Blockchain champion Daniel Gorfine to leave CFTC

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is losing one of its top blockchain-friendly officials to the private sector. Daniel Gorfine, the agency’s first chief innovation office and the director in charge of LabCFTC, is quitting the agency in two weeks to go back to the private sector. There is no word yet where he is going.

Gorfine is a familiar face to the crypto community. He is a regular presence at various blockchain-related events such as Consensus 2019, for example. And LabCFTC—a unit he developed—worked with everyone from established businesses to scrappy startups—particularly those in distributed ledger technology—looking to build businesses in the commodities markets.

“The mission statement for LabCFTC is to facilitate market-enhancing innovation, help to inform policy, and again to make sure that we have the regulatory and technological tools and understanding to keep up with our markets,” Gorfine told Modern Consensus in an interview this past winter.

“We are sad to be losing Dan,” said CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert in a press statement. “With Dan’s vision and the support of the Commission, LabCFTC has established itself as a model for regulatory engagement with emerging technologies. I am fully committed to building on the firm foundation Dan has built to further elevate, advance, and modernize how we think about applying a sound, principles-based approach to promising new technologies.”