Taiwan takes a stance on ICOs

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

On 6 October 2017, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission chairman, Wellington Koo, attended a joint session of the Taiwanese parliament and cabinet in response to a request by legislator Jason Hsu to clarify Taiwan’s stance on cryptocurrency. During the session Koo pledged to adopt a friendlier stance to support the development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain and not follow neighbours China and South Korea who both recently banned initial coin offerings (ICOs).

This move appears to be well received by Hsu who stated “Just because China and South Korea are banning, doesn’t mean that Taiwan should follow suit – there is a huge opportunity for growth in the future. We should emulate Japan, where they treat cryptocurrency as a highly regulated, highly monitored industry like securities.”