TAIWAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Robin Chang, Sarah Wu and Eddie Hsiung, Lee & Li
The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (“Central Bank”) issued a report in December 2021 expressing concerns about stablecoins being used for speculative trading and investment in virtual assets, noting that they are not completely price-stable. The report further emphasises that if the issuance of sta - blecoins is considered as a regulated activity under banking and electronic payment laws, they must adhere to the applicable regulations for banks and electronic payment institutions. Furthermore, a sepa - rate report released by the Central Bank in October 2023 argues that stablecoins might be viewed as vir - tual assets with a “payment” characteristic, potentially leading to their regulation within the electronic pay - ment regulatory framework. Furthermore, there has been discussion about wheth - er the regulation of stablecoins should be incorpo - rated into the crypto-specific law as indicated above. If included, questions remain regarding who would be allowed to issue stablecoins, including whether local banks could qualify as eligible issuers. In addition, it is generally believed that if this law passes, there should be relevant regulations regarding stablecoin issuers maintaining reserve funds. In addition, under this new future law, whether USDT and USDC can continue to be traded on Taiwanese virtual asset exchanges is also a matter of particular concern. Spot bitcoin ETFs? Under Taiwan’s current regulatory regime, Taiwan - ese investors can purchase US stocks and related products, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), through sub-brokerage channels via Taiwanese secu - rities firms. Following the US SEC’s official approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, Taiwan’s FSC initially restricted the purchase of US spot bitcoin ETFs through the sub-brokerage method. However, after ongoing discussions between the regulator and industry stakeholders, the FSC issued a press release in September 2024, announcing the permission of professional investors to purchase US spot virtual asset ETFs through the same method. This is subject to specific conditions, including enhanced know-your- customer procedures, risk disclosure, provision of product information by the securities firm, and regular on-the-job training for the securities firm’s personnel.
As regards local funds (including ETFs) wishing to include bitcoin in their portfolios, there may be sev - eral regulatory restrictions that need to be overcome. Firstly, in a 2014 press release, the FSC ordered local banks not to accept bitcoin as a payment method or provide any other services related to bitcoin. From a policy perspective, this should also apply to securi - ties investment trust enterprises (SITEs). Also, in Tai - wan, the types of funds allowed are limited to securi - ties investment funds, real property trust funds, and futures trust funds with a focus on futures and deriva - tives, subject to certain exceptions that SITEs and securities firms may form a subsidiary to serve as the general partner of a private equity fund under a lim - ited partnership structure. Only entities licensed by the FSC, such as SITEs, banks or futures trust enter - prises, are permitted to offer and manage these funds. If domestic funds or ETFs want to invest in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, significant adjustments to the aforementioned regulations may be required. Of course, this would also require support from FSC poli - cies to be achieved. Tokenisation of real-world assets (RWAs) In a June 2024 press release, the FSC highlighted that the global trend of tokenising RWAs is seen as offer - ing several potential benefits, such as enabling 24/7 cross-border and cross-timezone trading, reducing investment barriers, improving operational efficiency, facilitating instant settlement, and enhancing liquidity and transparency. However, the FSC also acknowl - edged the challenges surrounding regulation, legality and interoperability. To explore the necessary steps for advancing RWA tokenisation in Taiwan, the FSC established a task force in collaboration with the Tai - wan Depository & Clearing Corporation (TDCC) and certain financial institutions (“RWA Task Force”). According to the FSC’s press release in November 2025, the RWA Task Force completed the feasibility verification of the technology in September 2025, with the next stage focusing on regulatory adaptation. As stated in the press release, the RWA Task Force is divided into three groups, each studying domestic bonds, foreign bonds and funds as tokenisation tar - gets, using Proof of Concept (POC) to test the feasi - bility of promoting RWA tokens in Taiwan’s financial market:
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