Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Aug. 13 published a draft amendment to the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules for virtual asset service providers, spelling out the travel rule for crypto transfers in greater detail and aligning the framework with Recommendation 16 revised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in June. The consultation period runs through Sept. 14.
NT$30,000 threshold splits reporting requirements
The proposed revision to Article 7 divides the information that an originating virtual asset service provider, or VASP, must collect into two tiers.
For a single transfer valued at no more than NT$30,000, the provider would only need the sender’s and recipient’s name, or entity name, along with wallet information for both sides. If the value exceeds NT$30,000, additional identity details would be required.
For a sender who is a natural person, that means date of birth and residential address. For a legal entity, the required data would be its official identification number and registered address. For a recipient who is a natural person, the draft requires the country and city of residence. For a legal entity recipient, it requires the official identification number plus the country and city of the registered address.
The draft also states that if a VASP cannot obtain and transmit the required information under the rules, it may not carry out the transfer.
Receiving VASPs would face a new verification duty
The amendment also raises obligations on the receiving side. Drawing on the interpretive note to FATF Recommendation 16, the draft adds a requirement that when a transfer exceeds NT$30,000, the receiving VASP must compare the recipient name, or entity name, and wallet information provided by the originating VASP with the information it already holds.
If anomalies are found during that process, firms must maintain risk-based policies and procedures to determine when to execute, reject, or suspend a transfer, and to conduct appropriate follow-up tracking.
Relevant information must also be retained in line with the rules, and firms must be able to provide it promptly when requested by the competent authorities.
Industry association would set scope and timeline
The draft does not fix the detailed effective schedule for the travel rule in the regulation itself. The FSC said information transmission systems, message format standardization, and cross-border system integration will require a buildout period. Under the proposed change, the scope and timetable for applying Article 7, paragraphs 1 through 3, would instead be set by the Virtual Currency Commercial Association of the Republic of China and then submitted to the FSC for approval.
Article 14 would be revised only to reflect the wording changes made to Article 7. Article 18 would add that the amended provisions take effect from the date of promulgation.
Draft stage only
As presented, the amendment continues Taiwan’s move toward closer alignment with international regulatory standards after the Virtual Asset Service Act passed its third reading in June. The proposal is still at the public notice stage, and both the final wording and the actual implementation schedule will depend on the FSC’s formal release.