Taiwan Calls El Salvador Authorities to Establish Virtual Assets Bureau For Enhanced Crypto Regulations

Taiwan’s Crypto Association has established talks with the El Salvador authorities – the Central Bank, the Virtual Assets Bureau, and the Presidential Palace – calling for enhanced crypto regulations.

According to a Wu Blockchain report, Taiwan regulators have communicated with El Salvador’s authorities, toward establishing a new Virtual Assets Bureau to ensure supervision capacity.

The Taiwan Cryptocurrency Association stated that it has established formal communication channels with the El Salvador Virtual Assets Bureau, the Central Bank, and the Presidential Office, and called for the establishment of Virtual Assets Bureau to ensure regulatory…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 18, 2023

The collaboration would “promote the normalization of the industry, call for the expansion of the scope of money laundering prevention statements, reduce grey area, illegal operators and allow those willing to comply with regulations to officially enter the industry,” the translated statement read.

The proposal of a Virtual Assets Bureau was made during a public hearing organized by Taiwanese legislator Kuo Kuo-wen on September 7.

The meeting primarily discussed whether to establish a special unit “Financial Technology Bureau” for crypto industry supervision. Representatives from crypto exchanges Binance and Bitfinex attended the meeting.

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Taiwan’s financial regulator, noted that the existing crypto regulatory framework excludes stablecoin issuance because “it involves legal currency supply issues,” the report further said.

According to a CNA report, Taiwan will introduce its virtual asset service provider (VASP) guidelines by the end of September and the regulator will oversee digital assets, establish regulatory frameworks to combat money laundering, and ensure compliance among crypto businesses and exchanges.

Perspectives

The public meeting saw representatives from various departments talk about the importance of regulations at a time when Taiwan’s cryptocurrency landscape is evolving.

For instance, You Liling, Section Chief of the Procuratorial Department of the Ministry of Justice stressed on the importance of detecting fraud.

“At present, we are actively cooperating with the Police Department to combat fraud, which is particularly serious for individual currency dealers and small-scale operators.”

A representative from Taiwan’s Police Department, Lin Mingjun, noted that anti-money laundering regulations should be established by the administrative department first and then implemented by criminal units.

“Common crimes currently include fraud, money laundering, computer extortion, and physical crimes, such as kidnapping during transactions. We hope that supervision can be legalized,” Mingjun added.

Chen Minghui, COO of Maicoin, spoke from the industry perspective, calling for “special laws” to be adopted, highlighting potential operational hiccups. Meanwhile, He Xuanrong from Binance stressed that “employee training should be strengthened.”

“Employee capabilities have a great impact on transparency and market fairness,” Minghui said.