Ku Jung-chun, a Kuomintang legislator, questioned Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Thomas Huang during a meeting of the Finance Committee today. He inquired about the establishment of the Virtual Asset and Trading Business Association (VASP) scheduled for tomorrow. The Commission has also requested VASPs to formulate self-regulatory norms, which will need approval from the Commission. Given this, why rush to push for special laws for control without giving more time to verify the feasibility of these self-regulatory norms?
In response, Thomas Huang stated that the “Virtual Asset Special Act” is part of the fourth phase of the Commission’s regulation of virtual assets. According to the established timeline, it will not be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan until the first half of next year at the earliest. The process of legislation will take a long time, but the government cannot afford to pause its efforts to combat fraud. Therefore, the Commission is temporarily using the Anti-Money Laundering Act, second amendment, for supervision, while urging the industry to quickly implement self-regulatory norms to fill the gap through various means.
Ku Jung-chun emphasized at the end of the questioning that virtual assets, as an emerging technology, have great development potential. The government should encourage and support the industry’s growth instead of focusing solely on regulation. I have seen your spirit, and I support it. Please give self-regulatory organizations and norms more time and space, urged Ku Jung-chun.
