[1][2] He started Defense Distributed, a non-profit organization which develops and publishes open source gun designs, so-called "wiki weapons" created by 3D printing and digital manufacture.

[3][4] Defense Distributed gained international notoriety in 2013 when it published plans online for the Liberator, the first widely available functioning 3D-printed pistol.

[5] In 2012, Wilson and associates at Defense Distributed began the Wiki Weapon Project to raise funds for designing and releasing the files for a 3D printable gun.

"[7] Learning of Defense Distributed's plans, manufacturer Stratasys threatened legal action and demanded the return of a 3D printer it had leased to Wilson.

[10] In May 2013, Wilson successfully test-fired a pistol called "the Liberator" which reportedly was made using a Stratasys Dimension series 3D printer purchased on eBay.

[12] The State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance demanded that he remove the files, threatening prosecution for violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

[13] In October 2014, Defense Distributed began selling to the public a miniature CNC (computer numerical control) mill named Ghost Gunner to finish "80 percent" receivers, like those used to build the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

He said, "I will run on a platform of the complete dissolution of the Bitcoin Foundation and will begin and end every single one of my public statements with that message.

[30] Several months after Hatreon's launch, Visa, the site's payments processor, suspended its financial services.

[33][34] Wilson claims an array of influences from anti-state and libertarian political thinkers[35] including mutualist theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,[11][36] paleolibertarian anarcho-capitalists like Austrian School economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and classical liberals such as Frederic Bastiat.

[40] He frequently cites the work of post-Marxist thinkers in public comments, especially that of Jean Baudrillard, whom he has claimed as his "master".

[44] He indicated his primary goal is the subversion of state structures and he hopes that his contributions may help to dismantle the existing system of capitalist property relations.

[55] He was accused paying a 16-year-old girl $500 for sex in a hotel room in Austin, Texas in August 2018, a second-degree felony.

[58][59] After he was returned to the U.S. by the United States Marshals Service on September 23, 2018, he was released on $150,000 bond from Harris County Jail in Houston.

[63][65][66] In a 2024 piece memorializing his time as a producer of The New Radical, venture capitalist Greg Stewart recalled Wilson as "physically imposing," and "solemn to the point of severity."