Don Wilson

Recent appearances

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  Don Wilson on the GPU Market's Trillion Dollar Question | Odd Lots

  October 19, 2026 · 📺 Bloomberg Podcasts

  When we spoke to Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW, in Chicago last year, he told us he wanted to build a market for GPUs that would eventually be bigger than oil. A year's time in the age of AI is an eternity, and so for the first episode of this year's Chicago live show - recorded at City Winery - Wilson joins us on stage again to talk about what's changed and what hasn't in his quest to help build this market. We get his take on the recent tech selloff, including credit concerns around neocloud CoreWeave. And we also discuss how DRW is developing a “crunch spread” (the GPU version of a cra…

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  Don R. Wilson, Jordan Blashek, & Alec Litowitz | Building America's Future in the Age of AI

  May 21, 2026 · 📺 The Chicago Thinker Official

  What will it take to keep America competitive in the age of artificial intelligence? Donald R. Wilson (Founder & CEO, DRW), Jordan Blashek (Co-Founder, America's Frontier Fund), and Alec Litowitz (Founder, Magnetar Capital & original Citadel partner) discuss technology, innovation, and the future of American competitiveness. Hosted by The Chicago Thinker at the David Rubenstein Forum, University of Chicago — May 15, 2026. Subscribe for more content from the American Identity Summit 2026. #AmericanIdentitySummit #AIS2026 #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #UChicago #ChicagoThinker

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  Rewiring Wall Street & The Evolution of Market Structure | DAS NYC 2026 | Day 3 | Main

  March 26, 2026 · 📺 Blockworks

  Rewiring Wall Street & The Evolution of Market Structure Speakers: Don Wilson, Jason Yanowitz This is a panel from DAS New York 2026. To explore more Blockworks events, visit blockworks.co/events

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  Markets, Trading & Cryptocurrency with Don Wilson CEO & Founder of DRW - THINKING OUT LOUD EPISODE X

  January 30, 2026 · 📺 The Chicago Thinker Official

  In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Don Wilson, CEO and Founder of DRW, one of the world's leading proprietary trading firms, shares his insights on creating and expanding successful firm, navigating markets, analyzing risk and sharing his views on regulation and cryptocurrency, especially given DRW's pioneering on crypto market making. Drawing on decades of experience building DRW from a small options trading operation into a global powerhouse spanning traditional markets, digital assets and even venture capital, Wilson discusses how technology has transformed modern trading, the institutio…

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  Tokenizing US Treasuries With Don Wilson

  January 29, 2026 · 📺 ARK Invest

  In this episode of FYI – For Your Innovation, ARK’s Cathie Wood speaks with Don Wilson, a pioneer in crypto market infrastructure and the founder of DRW and Cumberland. They discuss the accelerating shift of traditional finance onto blockchains, focusing on the emergence of the Canton Network, a public permissionless blockchain designed for institutions—with privacy and permissioning at its core. Don unpacks why Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC’s) decision to tokenize US Treasuries on Canton marks a turning point in institutional adoption, how Canton balances decentralization…

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  Quadrillions: Unlocking Quadrillions | Don Wilson & Yuval Rooz

  November 05, 2025 · 📺 Empire and Canton

  In this kickoff episode, we draw the big picture of how TradFi is a multiplier for crypto, the barriers to TradFi adoption, and how crypto can overcome - or is already overcoming - those barriers. This is the path to quadrillions moving onchain. -- Quadrillions brings together the voices defining the next era of finance. From institutional rails to stablecoins and privacy, the series dives into how traditional markets, crypto innovation, and regulatory frameworks are converging to bring the full force of capital markets onchain. Join hosts Jason Yanowitz, Yuval Rooz, and Eric Saraniecki for d…

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  The King of Chicago Trading Wants to Build a GPU Market Bigger Than Oil | Odd Lots

  September 29, 2025 · 📺 Bloomberg Podcasts

  Don Wilson has built a career diving into some of trading’s thorniest problems, including figuring out ways to trade new and niche markets. Now, the founder and CEO of DRW has his sights set on the GPUs powering AI, which he thinks could end up being a bigger market than crude oil. In this episode, which was recorded live onstage at our show in Chicago, we talk about how such a market would work, including ways to ‘standardize’ the vast array of different types of semiconductors, and how this could change the capital stack of the industry. We also talk the evolution of trading over Don’s stori…

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  Kiln's L1 Ecosystems Rendez-Vous - Ep #2 ft Don Wilson from DRW

  August 14, 2025 · 📺 Kiln

  In this second episode of Kiln L1 Ecosystems Rendez-Vous, we sit down with Don Wilson, the founder and CEO of DRW. DRW is a diversified trading firm with over 2,000 employees across major financial hubs with proven expertise innovating across both traditional and cutting-edge markets. Listen as Don shares his unique insights on: 🔸 The origins of DRW and its evolution into a global trading powerhouse 🔸 How DRW entered the crypto space (hint: Bitcoin in 2012!) 🔸 The birth of Cumberland (now a top crypto liquidity provider) and Digital Asset (company pushing Canton Network) 🔸 Why privacy and co…

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  DRW’s Don Wilson Says 24/7 Collateral Mobility and Tokenization Are Essential for Market Evolution

  June 27, 2025 · 📺 John Lothian News (JLN)

  LONDON, UK—(JLN)—June 27, 2025—The future of financial markets hinges on real-time collateral movement and native tokenization, according to Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW. Speaking at FIA IDX in London, Wilson emphasized that as markets shift to 24/7 trading, the ability to move collateral and variation margin instantly is “essential” to avoid injecting “significant additional risk into the financial system.” He warned, “If you move to 24/7 markets and you can’t move collateral or variation margin 24/7 and instantaneously, you inject significant additional risk into the financial system.…

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  The Bridge Conference 2024 - Don Wilson Fireside Chat

  December 05, 2024 · 📺 The Tie

  On November 6th, The Bridge conference welcomed Don Wilson, CEO and Founder of DRW, for a compelling fireside chat with Joshua Frank, Co-Founder and CEO of The Tie. As an early institutional player in digital assets, Don shared valuable insights into the convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and crypto, reflecting on DRW's pioneering entry into the space and the evolution of digital asset markets over the past decade. This conversation was recorded and is being made available solely for informational purposes. The information, statements, comments, views and opinions provided in this c…

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  Titan of Trading Don Wilson shares his Journey from UofC to Trading Legend and Founder of DRW

  November 16, 2024 · 📺 John Lothian News (JLN)

  Titan of trading Don Wilson, founder of DRW, shares his inspiring journey from a math-loving college student to a pioneering trader. On November 10, 2024, Wilson was welcomed by The Financial Times into its New Titan of Wall Street series with this headline: "Is Chicago’s Don Wilson the smartest man in trading? From cleaning up after Lehman Brothers to early bets on Bitcoin, DRW has become an industry colossus." In this 2014 video, filmed for JLN's MW Education series, Wilson discusses how he combined mathematics, technology, and trading to revolutionize the financial industry. Learn about: H…

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  Don Wilson — Meet the M32 Fleet

  September 27, 2023 · 📺 M32 World

  Let’s talk Convexity 🎙️ We sat down with Don Wilson before the M32 World Championship. A three-time back-to-back world champion, Don is the fleet’s protagonist on the water and has been for years. We wanted to know: What does Convexity mean? How does his trading career crossover with sailing? Why did he switch from monohull match racing to high-performance catamarans? What should we expect from Convexity in the Worlds this week? Cheer on Don, Taylor Canfield, Ted Hackney, Kinley Fowler, and Ricky McGarvie this week at the Worlds in Newport Thursday, Sept. 28 - Sunday, Oct. 1. Sign up for Wor…

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