News 9

Taiwan is pushing to introduce stablecoins as early as next year.

On the 3rd (local time), local media including Focus Taiwan reported that Peng Jinlong, chairman of Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said, "stablecoins could be launched on the market as early as the second half of next year." Peng said, "'Virtual Asset Service Act' should be included on the Legislative Yuan (parliament)'s agenda for this session," and added, "(if the bill passes) a six-month buffer period will be needed before it takes effect."

The Virtual Asset Service Act is the stablecoin regulatory bill Taiwan is seeking to legislate. According to the bill, Taiwan will initially limit issuers to financial institutions in the early stage of stablecoin introduction. Peng said, "(the bill draft) follows the European Union (EU)'s regulations on the virtual asset market." This means it took into account the MiCA law, the cryptocurrency regulation the EU abruptly introduced at the end of last year.

However, the legal tender that would underpin the stablecoin has not yet been decided. Peng said, "The value of the stablecoin could be pegged to the US dollar or the New Taiwan dollar depending on market demand, but nothing has been decided yet."