Taiwan's FSC Sets Out Draft Capital, Licensing and Stablecoin Rules Under the Virtual Asset Service Act

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on 3 November 2026 published the first detailed picture of how it will license crypto firms under the Virtual Asset Service Act. In two press releases, the regulator said it has drafted eight implementing regulations for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and a separate set of rules on stablecoin issuance, with minimum paid-in capital of NT$50 million to NT$200 million depending on the business line and NT$300 million for a non-bank stablecoin issuer.

The drafts are not yet in force. The FSC said it will formally pre-announce them in the coming days under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that the Act and its implementing rules will be promulgated and take effect on the same day. The Act itself was promulgated on 22 July 2026, and its commencement date is still to be set by the Executive Yuan.

Capital, Guarantee Deposits and Who Can Apply

The eight VASP drafts, prepared by the FSC's Securities and Futures Bureau, cover establishment and licensing, management of responsible persons and staff, business and financial management, internal control and audit, outsourcing, suspicious or abnormal accounts and transactions, financial reporting, and the industry association. Minimum paid-in capital is set by risk: NT$50 million for exchange, transfer or underwriting providers, NT$100 million for trading platforms or custodians, and NT$200 million for lenders. A firm running two or more businesses must add the amounts together. Financial institutions offering VASP services, and foreign VASPs setting up a branch in Taiwan, must allocate dedicated operating funds of the same amounts.

Providers will also have to lodge an operating guarantee deposit: NT$10 million for exchange, transfer or underwriting providers, NT$30 million for trading platforms or custodians and NT$50 million for lenders, again cumulative, and the FSC may raise the amount based on capital, scale and risk. Custodians must additionally deposit 2.5% of the virtual assets they hold for clients, measured at the end of June and the end of December each year, after deducting assets entrusted to financial institutions or other FSC-approved items.

Lending, a newly regulated activity, comes with entry conditions: a lender must have run a trading platform for at least one year, or both exchange and custody businesses for at least two years, and faces limits on the use, amount and type of borrowed assets. On the financial-institution side, the FSC is opening the door gradually. At first only banks that already provide virtual asset custody may take on VASP business, limited to four types (exchange, transfer, custody and underwriting), and their exchange and transfer services may serve corporate clients only. The drafts keep room for the FSC to open other businesses to financial institutions later.

Staff, Controls, Reporting and the Central Bank's Role

Sales and business staff must complete a VASP course of at least 24 hours, pass an exam and obtain a certificate, attend pre-service training within six months of joining and take in-service training every two years. Each provider must design and run an internal control system covering itself and its subsidiaries, built on three elements: self-assessment, a compliance, risk-management and cyber-security function, and internal audit. Financial statements must follow IFRS, with a CPA-reviewed half-year report filed within two months of the half-year end and an audited annual report within three months of the year end. The industry association must adopt self-regulatory rules on advertising, member inspections and dispute mediation.

After consulting the central bank on foreign-exchange management, the FSC included rules on staff qualifications, annual limits per customer and transaction controls, and allow the central bank to require VASPs to report virtual asset transaction data for monetary policy and statistical purposes. For firms already in the market, meaning VASPs that completed anti-money-laundering registration with the FSC and financial institutions already providing virtual asset services, the drafts contain transitional provisions on licence applications, financial and business management, staff and internal controls. Under the Act, VASPs registered before commencement must apply for an FSC licence within 12 months and obtain it within 21 months, extendable once by three months.

Stablecoin Issuers and What Happens Next

The Banking Bureau's draft Regulations Governing the Permission and Administration of Stablecoin Issuance limit applicants to banks, financial holding companies or companies limited by shares invested in by banks, and other institutions the FSC announces as eligible. A non-bank issuer needs paid-in capital of at least NT$300 million, must be a public company and may do nothing but issue and redeem stablecoins. Only stablecoins pegged one-to-one to the New Taiwan dollar or a single foreign currency may be issued. Issuers must verify the identity of subscribers and redeemers, keep reserve assets whose fair value is at least equal to the stablecoins outstanding, be audited by a CPA periodically, maintain internal control, business continuity and cyber-security systems, act promptly when authorities lawfully require transfers to be restricted, and report financial and business data to both the FSC and the central bank. Two accompanying amendments designate stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under Article 5(1)(18) of the Money Laundering Control Act and let AML/CFT units also handle anti-fraud work.

Comments on all drafts can be filed within 40 days from the day after they appear in the Executive Yuan Gazette, through the draft pre-announcement page of the FSC's regulations database. The FSC said it will keep talking to industry associations and firms before finalising the texts, and that the stablecoin rules will take effect on the Act's commencement date. For firms on Taiwan's current VASP register, the 12-month licence application clock starts on that same day.