Taiwan Gov’t Mulls ‘Real-name’ Crypto Trading Regulations

Taiwan’s forthcoming cryptocurrency regulations may involve imposing “real-name” transactions on trading, per the state’s financial regulator.

According to media outlet the Taipei Times, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman Wellington Koo says the country’s authorities are currently debating the introduction of an authenticated registration system. South Korea earlier this year issued guidelines that require that all exchange-to-bank transfers to be made via real-name, social security number-verified accounts – although these are not yet legally binding.

The Taiwanese Minister of Justice also announced last week that it would have a full set of cryptocurrency regulations ready for parliamentary review by November, as part of an anti-money laundering incentive.

The FSC currently requires Taiwan’s banks to consider cryptocurrency exchange platform accounts as “high-risk.”

In an editorial, the Taipei Times warned the government to “be practical and open-minded about cryptocurrencies and their future development, which is likely to bring about a fundamental shift in global monetary and financial systems.”

However, Koo has been very vocal in his support for cryptocurrency and blockchain-related business in the past.

In October last year, he told a joint cabinet-parliament summit that he wanted the country to adopt a more lenient stance toward cryptocurrencies, urging the country to follow Japan’s pro-crypto lead, rather than looking to the stricter policies of Seoul and Beijing. Taiwan’s new central bank governor Yang Chin-long, meanwhile, has spoken about the need to enable payments systems that make use of blockchain technology.