Taiwan’s crypto sector receives government approval to form industry association

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior has approved the application from the local cryptocurrency industry to form an industry association, as the government moves closer to regulating the nascent sector.

The local crypto industry working group, formed last year in preparation for establishing an industry association, said in a notice on Friday that it received the green light from the government for the application.

The working group now needs to finish all preparation work and officially establish the crypto industry association by the end of June, as required by the government.

The working group currently comprises 22 crypto firms, including major exchanges in Taiwan such as MaiCoin and BitoPro. The working group noted that it removed ACE Exchange from the group, as the troubled exchange has been mired in investigations by prosecutors for its former executives’ alleged wrongdoing.

Step closer to self-regulation

Currently, Taiwan requires cryptocurrency service providers to comply with anti-money laundering laws since the Financial Supervisory Commission introduced anti-money laundering rules in July 2021. Otherwise, the crypto industry remains largely unregulated.

In September 2023, the FSC released guidelines that place great emphasis on customer protection for crypto firms. By setting up an industry association, crypto firms hope they can come up with self-supervisory rules based on the guidelines.