Banks Reject Open Ledgers, Build Private Blockchains

Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW, said Wall Street firms are unlikely to adopt public open ledgers because full transparency conflicts with how institutions trade and manage risk. Wilson argued that publishing every institutional trade onchain can breach fiduciary duty by exposing large investors’ intentions. That could increase price impact and enable front-running, since others may detect patterns and trade ahead. He emphasized that the problem is not blockchain technology, but implementation. Wilson warned that complete onchain transparency is “a mistake” for financial markets and said institutional needs should prioritize privacy and control over data visibility. Wilson also pointed to market-structure risks on public networks, including the ability to reorder transactions—an issue he said is unsuitable for traditional finance. While tokenization of real-world assets is gaining traction, he expects institutions to use private or permissioned blockchain designs rather than fully transparent systems like Ethereum. Key takeaway for traders: the industry may move toward tokenization infrastructure that protects confidentiality, which could shift attention and liquidity away from fully public networks and toward permissioned ecosystems. (Reported from the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Mar 26, 2026.)