Taiwan’s Minister of Justice, Qiu Taisan, has called for cryptocurrency regulations to be in place by November in the interest of preventing money laundering. Qui Taisan said the country’s Ministry of Interior, the Central Bank, the Bureau of Investigation and other entities will be involved in determining how to regulate bitcoin. Qui Taisan was interviewed during the financial industry money laundering conference held by the Taiwan Financial Services Coalition, according to the Central News Agency.
Government Studies Crypto Regulation
The government’s Legal Department invited two domestic virtual currency operators on April 10 to learn about virtual currency operations, the report noted. The department will be knowledgeable about “control mechanisms” prior to the Asia Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Organization in Taiwan at the end of November.
Gu Lixiong, the chairman of the Financial Supervision and Management Commission, also said the control of bitcoin and other virtual currencies is focused mainly on the prevention of money laundering. In order to prevent bitcoin from becoming a money laundering tool, the commission has asked banks to list the account of the bitcoin sales platform as a “high-risk account.”
A Change In Regulatory Outlook?
In October, Wellington Koo, then Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission chairman, told a joint session of the parliament and the cabinet that Taiwan will not follow the paths of China and South Korea in an outright ban on crypto-related activity. Instead, the head of Taiwan’s financial regulator pledged to adopt a friendlier stance to support the development and adoption of both cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in the country. Last month, the new governor of Taiwan’s central bank, Yang Chin-long, expressed “uncertainty” over cryptocurrencies’ function as a payment instrument. He was asked about the matter after a number of central banking counterparts around the world explore a blockchain-based state cryptocurrency.