The Asia FinTech Alliance (AFA) summit wrapped up on Sept. 3, with AFA Chair and Taiwan FinTech Association honorary chair Tsai Yu-ling arguing that global trade and supply chains have become the most important real-world arena for fintech deployment. She said Taiwan was not the earliest mover, but its manufacturing and supply-chain base, paired with clearer market demand, gives it room to catch up. Tsai said the two-day event brought together senior speakers from home and abroad, financial institutions, and cross-border regulators. She described the agenda as tightly packed and said presentations from overseas industry figures offered first-hand information that decision-makers could use to track current global trends. A major shift this year, she said, was the sponsor mix: about half of the sponsors came from supply-chain companies. Compared with last year’s wait-and-see tone, that change signaled stronger demand from the client side. Tsai added that executives from Test-Rite Group, Wistron-related supply-chain leadership, Avalue Technology, and Chenbro attended in person and discussed pain points in cross-border trade and supply chains, as well as expectations for fintech tools. In her view, those needs are now concrete enough to move into proof-of-concept work.

FinTechOn 2026 and the Asia FinTech Alliance, or AFA, Summit wrapped up in Taipei on Sept. 3 after a two-day program that brought together Taiwan officials, overseas regulators, supply-chain executives and major financial institutions. In her closing remarks, AFA Chair and Taiwan Fintech Association honorary chairperson Tsai Yu-ling said one of the clearest signals from this year’s event was that fintech is no longer a topic discussed only by banks or technology vendors. She said supply-chain companies that actually use financial services are now putting forward clear and urgent demands, especially around cross-border transactions and treasury management, with some topics already ready for proof-of-concept work. The summit featured representatives from four major Taiwan government bodies, including the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Development Council. Panels also examined AI governance, stablecoin and virtual-asset oversight, cross-border payment risks, tokenized real-world assets, and the challenge of connecting new digital tools with existing finance, payments and compliance systems. Tsai said AFA, whose members span 16 Asian economies, should move beyond being only a discussion platform and form task forces to turn cross-border cooperation into practical execution.

FinTechOn 2026 and the Asia FinTech Alliance (AFA) Summit concluded in Taipei on Sept. 3 after a two-day program that brought together senior officials from four Taiwanese ministries and representatives from 16 Asian economies. In her closing remarks, AFA Chair and Taiwan FinTech Association honorary chair Jaclyn Tsai said issues such as stablecoins, AI and cross-border governance cannot be handled by any single market on its own, and that the consensus built during the summit now needs to be converted into action. The discussions covered regulatory coordination, AI governance, stablecoin oversight, cross-border payments, supply-chain finance and the integration of new digital tools into legacy financial systems. Speakers from government, industry and finance described trust as the core condition for scaling innovation across markets. The summit also highlighted Taiwan’s role in the global AI and semiconductor supply chain, with participants arguing that fintech should move beyond a supporting role and become part of order management, production, logistics, financing and payments. The article was identified in the source as a press release written and provided by the Taiwan FinTech Association, and not a statement of BlockTempo’s editorial position.

FinTechOn 2026 and the Asia FinTech Alliance (AFA) Summit are set for Sept. 2-3 at the Shangri-La Far Eastern in Taipei, with this year’s agenda centered on “FinTech × Global Supply Chain.” Organizers say the event will examine how fintech can improve cross-border capital flows, risk controls, data exchange and financial infrastructure tied to real-world trade and manufacturing networks. AFA Chair Jaclyn Tsai said supply-chain resilience is no longer only about where goods are produced, but also how quickly companies can complete payments, financing and verification while adjusting to market shifts. The summit is also drawing broader regional participation, with industry delegations from Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia expected to travel to Taiwan. Etron founder and CEO Nicky Lu said Taiwan’s electronics and semiconductor sector is estimated to generate about $670 billion annually, and argued that the financial infrastructure supporting that industrial base must be upgraded in step. Speakers from South Korea, Japan and Malaysia are also expected to discuss AI payments, cross-border standards, supply-chain finance and the possible role of stablecoins in payment and settlement systems.

Coinbase has published the full list of countries and regions where its services are available. In a post on X, the exchange said it is available only in the jurisdictions named. The list includes 106 countries and territories, with entries stretching from Albania and Angola to Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zambia. Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States are among the major markets covered, as are Hong Kong (China) and Taiwan (China). The roster also features smaller jurisdictions such as the Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Guernsey, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino. Other entries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and more.

At a media briefing for Taipei’s "Trendy Taipei 2026" tech event on Aug. 4, Asian FinTech Alliance (AFA) chair and honorary chair of the Taiwan FinTech Association Tsai Yu-ling said she had specifically checked with Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission and was told that virtual asset service providers, or VASPs, will be classified as "financial institutions" under the new licensing framework rather than "quasi-financial institutions." Tsai said the change reflects how crypto assets, which were not legally defined assets last year, have now become legal and compliant assets after the passage of the dedicated law, and can be regarded as financial assets with FSC approval. She also pointed to the next issue for the market: how traditional financial institutions will work with VASP operators now that the law allows financial institutions to run such business lines concurrently. The event also outlined the first AFA Awards, which drew 88 nominations from 16 economies. Nine international judges are set to travel to Taipei for the Sept. 1 final and awards ceremony, where the Top 10 companies will pitch live and winners will be selected on site. FinTechOn 2026 and the second AFA Summit will follow on Sept. 2-3, with speakers including GBBC CEO Sandra Ro, Peter Kerstens, an Abu Dhabi regulator representative, and a JPMorgan managing director overseeing Asia-Pacific product for securities services.

Telegram was abruptly removed from Apple’s App Store on Aug. 4, leaving new users unable to download the messaging app across 175 tracked storefronts. Apple and Telegram had not provided a public explanation at the time of publication, while existing users appeared unaffected and the app continued to function normally on already installed devices. Google Play still showed Telegram in search results. The development has drawn attention in crypto because of Telegram’s ties to The Open Network, or TON. Since early 2025, Telegram has required blockchain-enabled Mini Apps to be built on TON, and TON Pay has been positioned as a native crypto payments layer inside the app. The report also noted Pavel Durov’s May 2026 statement that Telegram would replace the TON Foundation as the network’s main promoter and largest validator, while cutting transaction fees by about sixfold. With no official statement from either company, the original report listed several unconfirmed possibilities, including developer account action by Apple, a repeat of earlier content moderation disputes, spillover from legal scrutiny in France, pressure tied to the EU Digital Services Act, and possible friction between crypto payments and Apple’s App Store fee structure.

Italy is raising crypto capital gains tax to 33%, Japan is considering a cut to 20%, and Sri Lanka is building a virtual asset framework from scratch, highlighting a widening divide in national crypto policy.