Taiwan to Regulate ICOs
FSC Chairman Wellington Koo.
The chairman of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Wellington Koo, has reportedly confirmed that the commission is drafting national standards for first coin offerings (ICOs). The FSC aims”to make virtual tokens as easy to invest in as stocks and equally as liquid,” the Taipei Times reported on Oct. 23.
In a finance committee meeting, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator William Tseng asked Koo whether the government would regulate ICOs. Tseng pointed out that 127 ICO whitepapers worldwide were found last year to be fake, the book described, including that 80 whitepapers were found to be inaccurate as April. Findings were also quoted by the legislator from Satis Group.
The news outlet conveyed Koo’s reply:
The commission would regulate ICOs… [but] tokens exchanged for products, such as those used in accruing points at convenience stores or mileage points approved by airlines, would not be covered by the standards.
In May, a Chinese business organization, China’s National Committee of Experts on the Internet Financial Security Technology, said it found 421 cryptocurrencies that was fake. Independently, the Wall Street Journal examined 1,450 ICOs and”found 271 with red flags that include plagiarized investor records, promises of guaranteed returns and missing or fake executive teams and bitcoin casino best bonus.”
Securities Tokens
The Securities and Futures Bureau of taiwan Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling was quoted from the Taipei Times asserting:
People frequently confuse an ICO with the trading of cryptocurrencies governor of Taiwan’s central bank, Yang Chin-long, told the finance committee that”the government will regard cryptocurrencies as virtual commodities or assets rather than currencies, because they don’t have any intrinsic value.” Tsai elaborated that”cryptocurrency trading is similar to trading in gold, for which the commission just implements money laundering controls.”
If a token functions similar to some security,”the commission would define it as a’securities token’ and subject it to the Securities and Exchange Act,” the publication quoted Tsai describing, including:
The issuer would also must disclose information like what companies that are traded need to do.
Regarding the time period of the ICO criteria,”The draft is to be completed by June next year,” the information outlet detailed, noting that”The commission has no intention of curbing the creativity and productivity related to cryptocurrencies if they’re not utilized as securities.”
“The more we govern, the more this new financial behavior wanes,” Koo was quoted saying. In June, the FSC indicated that focus on anti-money laundering measures and it intended to maintain a limited supervision of cryptocurrencies. In April, news.Bitcoin.com reported that Taiwanese bitcoin regulations are expected by November.
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Source: bitcoincasinoreview.info