Key Takeaways
- Taiwan’s FSC will be the main overseer of cryptocurrencies on the island.
- “FSC likely needs more time to develop a proper set of NFT classification guidelines”, FSC head Huang stated.
Countries worldwide are looking to frame regulations for crypto and the Web3 sector. The latest country to join the crypto regulation race is Taiwan. According to the Financial Supervisory Commission(FSC) Head, Huang Tien-mu, Taiwan will soon have special legislation to regulate cryptocurrency, and the country’s FSC will also be the main overseer of crypto.
Huang noted that FSC would initially be responsible for the supervision of payments and transactions. He stressed that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) would not fall under FSC’s supervision.
Reasoning the exclusion of NFTs from FSC watch, Hyang reportedly said: “Due to the extendability and composability of NFTs, they can represent a broad spectrum of things ranging from commercial products to commodities to securities. Therefore the FSC likely needs more time to develop a proper set of NFT classification guidelines.“
As per local media reports, Taiwanese legislators expect to develop and approve a relevant cryptocurrency regulatory framework by the end of March or April at the earliest. This development comes amid debates in Taiwan’s parliament on which body should be the chief crypto regulator.
Certain legislators have demanded that the newly formed Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) should oversee the crypto sector instead of FSC. However, many have opposed this, citing the inexperience of the Ministry in regulating the sector.
Taiwan’s first measures to bring crypto into its regulatory fold were taken only a few years back. In 2018, Taiwan declared that virtual assets services providers must comply with local anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and drafted relevant rules in line with guidance from the global Financial Action Task Force in April 2021.
In September 2022, 24 crypto platforms were registered under Taiwan’s Money Laundering Control Act. In response to the FTX collapse, Taiwan’s FSC also had announced plans to introduce regulations requiring local crypto exchanges to segregate their customers’ assets.
