Taiwan's FSC drafts licensing rules for stablecoin issuers and will open them for comment

What happened

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) of Taiwan said on 3 Nov 2026 that it has drafted regulations on stablecoin issuance permits and management, along with amendments to two anti-money laundering (AML) regulations for financial institutions. The FSC said it will pre-announce the three drafts in the coming days under the Administrative Procedure Act to seek comment. All three are proposed. This story relies on the FSC's Chinese-language press release, not on the draft texts. The English wording is Anvesan's translation.

The FSC said it drafted them to accompany the implementation of the Virtual Asset Service Act, which the President promulgated on 22 Jul 2026. The Executive Yuan will set the Act's effective date.

What changed

The release lists three groups of permit applicants: banks, companies limited by shares in which a financial holding company or bank has invested, and other institutions the FSC announces as eligible.

A non-bank issuer would need minimum paid-in capital of three hundred million New Taiwan dollars (新臺幣3億元). It would have to undertake public issuance (公開發行), a term the release does not define, and carry on stablecoin issuance and redemption exclusively.

The stablecoins an issuer could issue would be those pegged one to one to the New Taiwan dollar or a single foreign currency. Among other duties, an issuer would have to:

• confirm the identity of subscribers and redeemers before accepting their transactions;
• for each class of stablecoin, keep the fair value of reserve assets at no less than that stablecoin's outstanding balance;
• regularly engage an accountant to audit;
• ensure it can promptly handle requirements that competent authorities impose under law to restrict the transfer of stablecoins or to dispose of stablecoins;
• report financial and business data to the FSC and the central bank.

The AML drafts would designate stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under Article 5, paragraph 1, item 18 of the Money Laundering Control Act, so the AML rules for financial institutions would apply to them. They would also let dedicated AML and counter-terrorist financing units handle anti-fraud work, and would update article references and wording to follow changes in the Money Laundering Control Act.

Who is affected

The permit draft would reach the three applicant groups. The capital, public issuance and exclusive business conditions would apply to non-bank issuers. The AML drafts would apply the AML rules for financial institutions to stablecoin issuers. The release does not say which institutions the anti-fraud change would reach.

What happens next

The FSC said the drafts will appear in the Executive Yuan Gazette. Comments would run for 40 days from the day after the notice. The release gives no date for the notice, so no closing date. The FSC said that after fully collecting suggestions, it will issue the rules to take effect in step with the Act's effective date.