The Virtual Currency Business Association of the Republic of China (referred to as the Virtual Currency Association) held its inaugural first member meeting on June 13th, with 24 operators listed in the Financial Supervisory Commission (referred to as FSC) “List of Operators Complying with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Virtual Currency Platforms and Trading Businesses” joining the association. At the first session of the first board of directors’ joint meeting, BitoPro Technologies Co., Ltd. (BitoPro) co-founder and CEO Cheng Guang-Tai was elected as the first chairman, and XREX Co., Ltd. (XREX) co-founder and Group Revenue Officer Hui-Zong Xiao was elected as the first vice chairman.

The Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission (referred to as the FSC) Securities Firms Management Division Chief Hwang Hsi-He and team leader visited to offer guidance and in his speech stated, “The FSC attaches great importance to the development of the virtual asset industry. We believe that the healthy development of this industry is closely related to social and economic development. The establishment of the association will bring more cooperation and consensus to the industry, promote compliance, standardization, and healthy development of the industry, to ensure its safety, transparency, and stability, enhancing consumer rights protection.” He also emphasized that in the future, the FSC will strengthen cooperation with the Virtual Currency Association to jointly enhance customer rights protection, improve the industry’s reputation and image, and promote sound industry development.

Chairman Cheng Guang-Tai stated, “I am honored to be elected as the first chairman of the Virtual Currency Association. Taiwan has many talents and opportunities, and I hope that in the future, we can integrate resources to build the blockchain industry chain in Taiwan, laying a solid foundation and establishing reasonable and effective ‘self-regulatory norms’.”

According to FSC Chairman Pen Tseng-Lung’s special report on June 12th at the Legislative Yuan Finance Committee on the “Draft Amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Establishment of the Act on Prevention of Fraudulent Crimes” regarding the prevention of virtual assets and trading businesses (VASPs) from becoming tools for fraud, and the “Special Law on Virtual Assets” formulation process, the management of VASP-related matters follows a progressive regulatory approach divided into four stages:
1st stage: Issuance of “Prevention of Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Measures for Virtual Currency Platforms and Trading Businesses”, starting with VASP regulation.
2nd stage: Promoting the establishment of VASP industry associations and formulating self-regulatory norms for management.
3rd stage: Adding VASP registration system to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, defining VASP clearly, imposing criminal liability on illegal operators, and considering differentiated management in subsidiary laws.
4th stage: Promoting the special law on virtual asset management to effectively regulate market behavior, while promoting the sound development of financial technology and VASP industries.

The formal establishment of the Virtual Currency Association symbolizes Taiwan’s progressive regulatory approach, currently at a critical moment in the second stage. The phased regulatory model in Taiwan has garnered unanimous support from operators, demonstrating the power of public-private cooperation and becoming an international regulatory paradigm for new technologies! Helping the virtual currency industry in Taiwan to establish itself in Taiwan and look towards the international market.

The Virtual Currency Association is a “regulatory-type” association established in accordance with the FSC’s “Guidelines for Managing Virtual Asset Platforms and Trading Businesses (VASPs)”, serving as the industry’s sole direct communication channel with the government. Its primary task after establishment is to formulate “self-regulatory norms”, implement proper operator classification and management, build an industry chain and ecosystem, while meeting government expectations and protecting consumer rights. The Virtual Currency Association expresses high confidence in this and will demonstrate the practicality and social expectation alignment of operator self-regulation with substantial performance.

Furthermore, during the preparatory phase, the Virtual Currency Association has already engaged in anti-fraud, anti-money laundering, and joint defense mechanisms with the Ministry of Justice and various units, and will continue to advance, contributing industry technology to law enforcement to significantly reduce industry risks and negative events, dispel the industry’s stigmatization, and establish a clean, safe, and sustainable industry environment. The formulation and implementation of “self-regulatory norms” will be the most solid foundation to achieve this goal.

Former Executive Yuan Political Deputy and current Honorary Chairman of the Taiwan FinTech Association, Tsai Yu-Ling, who has been guiding and supporting operators in establishing the association and serving as the chief advisor since September last year, stated, “Together, we must make the virtual currency industry a trusted industry. There were many doubts from the outside during the establishment of the association, but the regulatory authorities gave operators the opportunity for self-regulation. We must cherish the goodwill of the regulatory authorities, unite as operators instead of blaming each other, and practice a model of innovative regulation.”