Taiwan
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FSC Previews 8 Sub-Regulations for the Virtual Asset Service Act: Trading Platforms Must Have at Least NT$100 Million in Capital
- The eight draft sub-regulations cover licensing for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), qualifications for responsible persons and staff, business and financial management, internal controls, outsourcing, account and suspicious-transaction monitoring, financial reporting, and trade association management; operating bonds are tiered by business type (NT$10 million for exchange/transfer/underwriting, NT$30 million for trading platforms/custodians, NT$50 million for lending), and custodians must additionally post 2.5% of custodied client assets as a bond each June and December.
- Banks may initially engage in exchange, transfer, custody, and underwriting services (exchange and transfer limited to corporate clients), with room left to expand further given anticipated growth in New Taiwan Dollar stablecoin use cases; a new lending-service-provider category is added, requiring at least one year of trading-platform experience or two years of combined exchange-and-custody experience, given its higher liquidity risk.
- Staff must complete at least 24 hours of professional training and pass an exam, with onboarding training within six months and refresher training every two years; firms must adopt a three-lines-of-defense internal control model and report financial statements under IFRS (semi-annual reports within two months, annual reports within three months); transitional rules apply to existing registered/anti-money-laundering-compliant firms, and the public comment period runs 40 days from the day after the drafts are published in the government gazette.