Veteran Financial Regulator Patrick Schorno Appointed to Top Economic Advisory Role at CFTC

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has appointed Dr. Patrick J. Schorno as its new chief economist, Chairman Michael Selig announced.

In the role, Schorno will serve as an economic adviser to the Commission, focusing on regulatory cost-benefit analysis, rigorous economic research, and support for the agency’s mission of strengthening US derivatives markets.

Schorno joins from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and previously worked as an executive director at Ally Financial and as a financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

The CFTC’s 2026 pivot toward crypto oversight

On April 10, 2026, Chairman Michael Selig announced the formation of an Innovation Task Force specifically charged with developing a regulatory framework for crypto-related derivatives and decentralized protocols.

The agency also amended the charter of its Innovation Advisory Committee on March 3, 2026, expanding its mandate to support regulatory development for digital asset markets. The committee’s revised scope explicitly covers assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, both of which underpin significant derivatives trading activity.