A pioneer in modernizing and democratizing derivatives trading, Donald R. Wilson, Jr., founded DRW in 1992 and built a legacy as a champion for innovation and an advocate for policies that advance fairness and transparency. This is cemented in the firm's mission: to solve challenging problems, capture opportunities and pursue positive change. Always deeply curious about new ideas that will revolutionize free markets and address important issues, Don is engaged in topics ranging from carbon to cryptoassets to artificial intelligence. He launched Cumberland, one of the world’s leading institutional crypto liquidity providers and co-founded ErisX (now Cboe Digital) and Digital Asset (creator of the Canton network and DAML smart contract language). Don also partnered with Michael Greenstone at the University of Chicago to develop Climate Vault, a market-based solution to reducing carbon emissions. DRW used Climate Vault to become the first carbon-neutral trading firm in 2020, a commitment it has renewed each year. Don also leveraged DRW's expertise in risk management and technology to establish Convexity Properties, the firm’s real estate investment arm, and DRWVC, the firm’s stage-agnostic venture capital subsidiary. Don holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Chicago, where he currently serves as a trustee.
