Hosted by Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway
Written by a model from the transcript; not yet reviewed.
Recorded live in Chicago, this episode features Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway in conversation with Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW, discussing the evolving market structure for artificial intelligence infrastructure, compute futures, and financial derivatives. Wilson addresses recent volatility in the AI trade, explaining that rapid growth naturally involves cyclical fluctuations rather than a structural slowdown. The discussion delves into the mechanics of building futures contracts for GPUs, the robustness of pricing indices like Silicon Data, and how hedging mechanisms can lower capital costs for neo-clouds. Furthermore, the guest outlines future possibilities for token futures and examines Nvidia's market dominance alongside the operational role of AI within trading firms.
Joe and Tracy introduce the live Odd Lots episode and recap last year’s discussion about GPU futures.
Hosts outline the focus on GPU market structure and recent AI trade developments, noting CoreWeave and Anthropic buzz.
Discussion of CoreWeave bond yields, investor jitters, and whether AI is slowing or accelerating.
Exploration of how compute futures could enable cloud providers to hedge revenue and lower capital costs.
Interpreting AI Market Volatilityinsight
The guest explains that fast-growing industries do not experience constant first or second derivatives, dismissing recent market jitters as normal volatility.
Lowering Neo-Cloud Capital Costsstrategy
The guest argues that GPU futures will enable neo-clouds to hedge risk, allowing them to offer flexible contracts while securing lower borrowing costs.
The Need for Pricing Transparencyinsight
The guest emphasizes that indices focused on on-demand compute from neo-clouds must follow international regulatory standards for benchmarks.
Unpredictable GPU Depreciationdata
The guest highlights that determining future hardware values is the trillion-dollar question that necessitates the creation of futures contracts.
The Emerging Crunch Spreadinsight
The guest proposes that trading token futures alongside renting underlying GPUs creates a margin dynamic akin to commodity crush spreads.
Democratizing Hard-to-Borrow Yieldsstrategy
The guest explains that perpetual futures can mechanically pass the economic benefits of hard-to-borrow assets down to retail holders.
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 crack spread), the latest on his plans to launch GPU futures, and the possibility of token futures too. Read more: Jump, DRW Bet on New Compute Market as AI Boom Faces Scrutiny https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-16/jump-drw-bet-on-new-compute-market-as-ai-boom-faces-scrutiny?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=odd_lots&utm_content=article Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox, plus unlimited access to the site and app. bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots https://www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots?in_source=oddlotspodcast See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
5,654 words · 7 speakers
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