Binance has been placed on the warning list published by Taiwan’s Virtual Asset Service Provider Association, or VASP Association, after the group said the exchange had not completed anti-money laundering registration with the Financial Supervisory Commission.
The notice, posted on Aug. 10 in the association’s warning section, said Binance is not allowed under current rules to provide virtual asset services within Taiwan or advertise and solicit business from Taiwanese residents.
The association urged the public not to use the platform’s local services
In its warning statement, the VASP Association wrote: 「After review, Binance has not completed anti-money laundering registration with the Financial Supervisory Commission and may not provide virtual asset services within our territory or conduct advertising and solicitation business toward nationals.」
The group also advised the public to reject any virtual asset services Binance provides within Taiwan and to avoid remitting funds to accounts offered by the exchange.
AML registration records can currently be checked through the Financial Supervisory Commission’s Securities and Futures Bureau section for businesses or personnel providing virtual asset services.
Binance joins a growing list of offshore exchanges named by regulators and the industry group
The report said dozens of offshore platforms that have not completed registration have already been added to the warning list. Besides Binance, the named exchanges include Bybit, Gate.io, Bitunix, Ourbit, OKX, Bitget, Pionex, and BitMart. Binance was described as one of the last major platforms to be named.
It also noted that this case differs from several previous entries on the list. Earlier warnings involving some overseas platforms were reported by the Securities Firms Division under the Securities and Futures Bureau, while Binance’s case was reported by the VASP Association itself. The article described that as the first time the industry association had proactively placed the world’s largest exchange on the warning list in Taiwan.
The warning does not amount to a fraud designation
The article stressed that the warning does not label Binance a scam platform, nor does it mean Taiwanese users are breaking the law simply by holding Binance accounts.
The restriction, as framed in the report, is aimed at the conduct of the service provider. Offshore virtual asset service providers that have not completed AML registration are not allowed to operate within Taiwan, and they are also barred from soliciting business through advertising or other outreach aimed at the local public.
The report added that Chinese-language interfaces and customer service, Taiwan-facing social media accounts, KOL sponsorships, referral-code rebates, and offline events could all raise compliance questions if they amount to soliciting virtual asset business from Taiwanese residents. It said offshore platforms need to assess local service provision and active marketing as two separate regulatory issues.
Taiwan is moving from registration to a licensing framework
According to the report, Taiwan’s legislature passed the Virtual Asset Service Act on June 30. That change is expected to shift oversight of VASPs from the current system centered on AML registration toward a permit-based regime.
Under that framework, offshore firms that want to formally operate in the Taiwan market will need to apply for approval under follow-up rules and submit to requirements covering operator qualifications, customer asset protection, internal controls, and information security.
The article also linked the warning list to Taiwan’s anti-fraud system. Registered operators are expected to cooperate with regulatory inspections and anti-fraud measures. When banks detect suspicious accounts or exchanges detect suspicious wallet addresses, the parties can notify each other and act quickly, with cases moving through law enforcement, banks, and exchanges under a defined process.
The report also pointed to cross-border recovery difficulties and Binance’s prior cooperation
For offshore platforms outside that mechanism, the article said recovery becomes much harder once victim funds move into an unregistered exchange, because follow-up efforts depend on cross-border judicial assistance.
At the same time, the original report said Binance had already begun cooperating with Taiwan’s judicial authorities several years ago on data retrieval and the return of illicit proceeds. It added that Binance’s anti-fraud cooperation and local compliance-related spending in Taiwan may even exceed that of some exchanges within the association.
Based on that point, the article argued that adding Binance to the list may have limited practical significance from an anti-fraud perspective, and it also said that guarding against competitive pressure from offshore exchanges could be a major reason.
As Taiwan’s new law and follow-up rules move toward implementation, the long-running model in which offshore exchanges reach Taiwanese users online without bearing local compliance costs is facing a much clearer boundary. Binance’s addition to the warning list is not only about one exchange. It also signals where Taiwan’s regulators and industry bodies are drawing the line on offshore solicitation.