TEAM

Taiwan
2026-07-15 11:32:19

WebX 2026 spotlights Taiwan’s VASP law and AI Basic Act

At WebX 2026 in Tokyo on July 13, Taiwanese lawmaker Ko Ju-Chun and Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s first minister of digital affairs and current ambassador-at-large, discussed the island’s recent push to formalize digital governance through two major legal frameworks completed in the first half of 2026: the Virtual Asset Service Provider Act and the AI Basic Act. Tang joined remotely and used the session to outline a broader governance approach that linked crypto regulation, civic AI, decentralized identity and the authorization of AI agents. Ko said Taiwan had allowed Bitcoin purchases at convenience stores as early as 2016, yet the crypto sector spent nearly a decade in a regulatory gray zone. That changed this year, he said, after the VASP law passed its third reading on June 13 and the AI Basic Act took effect on Jan. 14. Tang argued that regulatory delay often benefits incumbents, and said Taiwan’s latest shift was aimed at replacing opaque interpretive discretion with transparent, discussable and enforceable public rules. The discussion later moved to civic.ai, data governance and onchain identity. Tang said her own commi, “JTEAMI,” is already operating on Ethereum under ERC-8004 with Agent ID 22714, and said AI agents acting on a person’s behalf in transactions must be able to prove authorization and meet tests tied to portability, path inspectability, community deployment governance and fault accountability.

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WebX 2026 spotlights Taiwan’s VASP law and AI Basic Act