ETH/BTC exchange rate hits a new low for this bear market cycle, currently standing at 0.02752

May 18 — Situational Awareness LP, the hedge fund led by the self-proclaimed (or nicknamed) “25-Year-Old AI Stock God,” executed a bold strategic shift in its Q1 2026 holdings, per the fund’s newly released 13F filing. The firm positioned itself heavily to short the semiconductor sector while doubling down on AI infrastructure bets this quarter. The fund’s largest short positions are via put options, totaling $8.46 billion—making up roughly 62% of its total declared portfolio value. The breakdown of these puts includes: $2.04 billion in VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) (its single-largest individual holding), $1.57 billion in NVIDIA puts, $1.07 billion in Oracle puts, $1 billion in Broadcom puts, $969 million in AMD puts, $535 million in TSMC puts, and $494 million in ASML puts. This marks a dramatic reversal from Q4 2025, when the fund held only $8.91 million in put options. For long positions, the portfolio remains concentrated in AI, power, and digital asset infrastructure: $879

May 18 — According to Coinglass data, as Bitcoin dropped below the $77,000 threshold, funding rates on major centralized (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) indicate the market has shifted back to widespread bearish sentiment, as shown in the specific funding rate figures in the accompanying image. BlockBeats Note: The funding rate is a fee mechanism implemented by cryptocurrency exchanges to maintain alignment between perpetual contract prices and the underlying asset’s spot price. It functions as a fund exchange between long and short traders—trading platforms do not charge this fee themselves. The rate adjusts the cost or profit for traders holding contract positions, ensuring the contract price stays closely linked to the underlying asset’s value. For reference: A 0.01% funding rate marks the baseline. Readings above this level typically point to a bullish market, while rates below 0.005% generally signal a bearish trend.

On May 18th, according to Onchain Lens monitoring, BlackRock deposited 2,221 BTC (valued at approximately $170.59 million) and 26,572 ETH (worth roughly $56.17 million) into Coinbase.

May 18: Crypto markets and global risk assets took a collective hit Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s hardline rhetoric toward Iran spooked investors. Trump warned Iran that its "time is running out" and it must act quickly or face consequences, pushing Brent crude briefly above $112 per barrel. Bitcoin dipped roughly 2.4% to $76,500, hitting its lowest point since April 30, while Ethereum dropped 3.5% to $2,116—nearly wiping out all of its gains from April. U.S. stock futures also faced headwinds, with S&P 500 futures falling 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures sliding 0.25%. Derivatives market data underscores the shift: total nominal trading volume across the entire market jumped 65% to $159 billion in the past 24 hours. But open interest (OI) fell 1.48% to $125 billion, and liquidations skyrocketed 500% to $677 million. That points to massive deleveraging underway, not fresh directional bets on the market’s next move. Altcoins fared far worse than major cryptocurrencies: Bit

May 18: 25-year-old Wall Street AI stock wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner’s fund, Situational Awareness LP, has released its Q1 holdings report via a mandatory 13F filing. As of March 31, the fund’s assets under management (AUM) surged 148% to $13.6 billion. Below are its holdings worth $1 billion or more, as outlined in the filing: - VanEck ETF Trust (SMH): $2.053 billion (99.5% of position in put options) - NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): $1.569 billion - Sandisk Corp (SNDK): $1.113 billion - Oracle Corp (ORCL): $1.073 billion - Micron Technology Inc (MU): $1.012 billion - Broadcom Inc (AVGO): $1.006 billion ### Background on Aschenbrenner and his fund Leopold Aschenbrenner, founder of Situational Awareness LP, is a German investment prodigy born between 2001 and 2002. He previously worked at the FTX Future Fund, then joined OpenAI as a researcher in 2023 before being fired in 2024 over allegations of leaking confidential information and failing to cooperate with an internal investigatio

May 18th, as per GMGN monitoring, the Base ecosystem fund has recently reallocated a portion of its holdings from early-stage projects like Clanker and VIRTUAL to more dynamic AI-focused initiatives. Even though the broader market is in a correction phase today, several tokens within the Base ecosystem are bucking the trend, with stabilized market capitalizations and even notable gains. The key performances are as follows: POD: Currently boasts a market cap of $184 million, with a 139% weekly gain and hitting a new high of $238 million this morning. It serves as the default uncensored AI model provider on the Venice platform, and is benefiting from continued momentum in the VVV market; BNKR: Has a market cap of $55.1 million, with a 72% weekly increase, and reached a recent peak of $70 million this morning. It’s an AI-driven automated trading project—projects launched on its platform have been gaining traction lately, drawing significant attention and capital inflows; GITLAWB: Reports