Regulatory bodies across several countries have taken a new leap in crypto regulations by formulating fresh laws that address the growing presence of virtual digital currencies. This time it’s the government of Taiwan deciding to go hard on Bitcoin by regulating it and bringing it under the purview of anti-money laundering (AML) rules.
During an announcement made on Tuesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance is working on bringing cryptocurrencies under the existing AML rules that apply to the country’s overall financial sector. The Ministry of Finance has received some inputs from the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental anti-money laundering organization, after which it concluded on this decision in consultation with several law enforcement agencies and financial regulators, that includes Financial Supervisory Commission and the central bank.
On the other hand, the ministry has reportedly engaged with domestic cryptocurrency exchanges like MaiCoin and BitoEX. It closely examined the self-regulatory measures these exchanges adopted, especially those aligned with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards and the Know Your Customer (KYC) process.
As a part of its next measure, the Ministry of Finance said that it will consolidate all the opinions gathered from different industry participants and regulators, based on which it will propose a new draft ruling on the country’s executive branch.
This news arrived just a few days after the governor of Taiwan’s central bank,Yang Chin-long, announced the central bank will step-up measures to monitor the risks associated with cryptocurrencies. He had also indicated that institution would propose to the Ministry of Justice to regulate digital currencies under the existing AML rules.