Kalshi’s Head of Crypto Business: The “Top VC” Narrative Around SBF Is Inaccurate; the Real Driving Force Is “AI Stock God” Leopold

Odaily Odaily News: John Wang, Head of the Crypto Business at prediction market platform Kalshi, posted on X, stating that the general public believes Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was a “top-tier venture capitalist” who successfully invested in star projects like Anthropic and Cursor. However, this narrative is inaccurate. The true “core figure” behind the relevant investment layout and early resource allocation was actually “AI Stock God” Leopold Aschenbrenner, not SBF himself.

Analysis suggests that these comments have sparked discussions within the crypto and venture capital circles, once again bringing the question of SBF’s influence in early-stage investments in Silicon Valley and the crypto industry into the spotlight. It is reported that the AI fund Situational Awareness, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has a scale exceeding $20 billion, with quantitative giant Jane Street having made a rare investment. Situational Awareness has achieved a year-to-date return rate of 270%, with cumulative returns exceeding 1,000% since its inception. Its equity stake in Anthropic has contributed the most successful returns, accounting for one-fifth of its assets. Beyond the public market, Situational Awareness has also co-led an investment in AI chip company MatX with Jane Street and participated in a new funding round for AI cloud computing provider Fluidstack.