Country overview

#19

Taiwan

Country stats

Rating Points

380

This indicator describes the overall rating of a given jurisdiction on several parameters according to cryptocurrency operations - market volume, crypto regulation, business climate, taxation framework.

Crypto Penetration

6.2%

Estimated percentage of crypto users out of the country's total population based on public data.

Legal Entities

Number of crypto companies registered in the country based on regulator data if available or other types of public data.

Regulation Points

180

An overall assessment of the granularity of crypto regulation in a given country. A high score is also given to countries where cryptocurrency transactions are highly regulated.

Amount of crypto users

1 461 340

Total amount of crypto users out of the country's total population based on public data.

Taxation points

This figure, according to our analysts' calculations, indicates the overall level of tax burden for cryptocurrency transactions in a given country. The higher the indicator, the lower the burden.

Market volume points

176

A rough estimate of this jurisdiction's retail crypto market relative to the rest of the world. The higher the indicator, the higher the market potential.

Status of crypto

Legally allowed

General status of cryptocurrency regulation in this jurisdiction.

Crypto payments

No info

The legal status of cryptocurrency payments for goods and services in a given country based on information from regulators, public data and feedback from our community.

Security Level

Minor danger

The overall level of security in a given country based on open data.

Crypto Salaries

No info

The legal status of cryptocurrency salaries to employers in a given country based on information from regulators, public data and feedback from our community.

Business Climate

Medium

Overall assessment of the friendliness of this country for crypto-business. This indicator takes into account the cost of obtaining a license and the attitude towards crypto entities in the country.

Stablecoin Regulation

None

This indicator is evaluating the regulation of stablecoins in a given country. Complex regulation means that it is possible to issue steiblcoins and obtain a license for this activity. Basic regulation means that the issuance of stablecoins is possible, but not all legal aspects are defined in the law. Standard regulation means that there is a legal practice of steylcoin circulation in a given country.

Bad Factors

This section describes the unfavorable economic factors for crypto-business in a given country. These are countries that are under sanctions or on the FATF grey list and other factors.

Types of licenses

Crypto-to-crypto

This license type allows VASP to provide legal exchange from one cryptocurrency to another.

Crypto-to-fiat

This type of license regulates the exchange from cryptocurrency to fiat.

Wallet/Custody

This country has a legal licensing procedure for companies that store cryptocurrency - - crypto wallet providers and custodians.

Good

Medium

Bad

intro

Taiwan is an Asian country with a good regulation framework for fintech. Although crypto regulation in the country has a lower history than in Japan/South Korea/Hong Kong, this jurisdiction has many crypto users.

Security level

According to our rating, Taiwan has a minor danger level in terms of security. The jurisdiction has 83.9 points (from 100) for safety level in Numbeo crime rating (1). The story of firearm-related death s (2) is 0.87 per 100,000 inhabitants a year.

Crypto Payments

According to Global Ledger Insights (3), there are no regulations for crypto payments in Taiwan. And no laws regulating crypto payments. However, this doesn’t mean crypto payments are forbidden or impossible in this jurisdiction.

Crypto Salaries

We need to find out about cases of crypto salaries in Taiwan. There is probably no regulation on this topic. Contact us if you have information about it.

Legal

Based on Coindesk (4), Taiwan declared in 2018 that crypto companies must follow AML rules, and in 2021, it issued these rules.

According to Coindesk (5), Taiwan’s crypto regulator, the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), is going to issue additional guidelines for crypto entities; this information is based on local media publication (6) in September 2023.

According to the Paypers (7), one of the basic principles the FSA will apply for VASPs is a restriction to operating overseas crypto exchanges in Taiwan without the regulator’s approval. Moreover, according to Paypers, another important principle for FSA is dividing clients’ funds from the company’s. FSA also qualifies crypto as a speculative investment, prohibiting crypto purchases from credit cards in August 2022.

Based on the overview of Taiwan’s crypto policy from Global Ledger Insights (8), all types of digital assets in Taiwan still have no regulations in the form of federal laws:

“no laws, regulations or rulings have been officially issued, promulgated or amended to specifically deal with the rise of cryptocurrencies”

There is only one exception - security tokens, regulated under Securities Laws according to Mondaq (9).

Details

The FSC issued a ruling on 27 June 2019 stating that certain tokens that meet the Howey test will constitute a securities token offering (STO). The criteria of the Howey test are as follows:

According to the FSA/FSC press release (10) of May 2023, the country has approved the first 24 VASPs to operate.

According to Mpost (11), Binance set up an entity in Taiwan in August 2023 and will get a VASP license there. Binance International Limited Taiwan Branch (Seychelles) was registered (12) in May 2023 with a capital of NT$30 million ($944,000).

In September 2024 Taiwan has upgraded its crypto regulation with FSC as the main regulator. Local companies have transition period to get FSC license.

Taxation

Tax name	Index
PIT tax Min	5
PIT tax Max	40
Corporate tax (CIT)	20
Min Individual CGT (for crypto)	5
Max Individual CGT (for crypto)	40
Wealth tax Min	0
Wealth tax Max	0

PIT and CGT

According to PWC (13), PIT and CGT have the same tax rates in Taiwan, from 5 to 40%.

CIT

According to PWC tax summaries (14), the basic CIT rate in Taiwan is 20%. Mondaq Taiwan guide (15) contains some information about business taxation:

According to the Ministry of Finance, the transaction fees charged by virtual currency trading platforms constitute consideration for the sale of services. Therefore, if a transaction occurs within Taiwan, both business tax and income tax should be levied on the transaction fees. As regards the trading of virtual currencies, income tax should be levied on the income from the transaction.

Links

1)Crime Index by Country 2023 Mid-Year

2)List of countries by firearm-related death rate

3 and 8)Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Laws and Regulations 2023 | Taiwan

4 and 5)CoinDesk. Taiwan Crypto Watchdog to Issue 10 Guiding Principles for Virtual Assets in September: Report. Article

6)虛擬貨幣納管金管會擬定禁境外幣商非法招攬等10大原則. Virtual Currency Management: The Financial Supervisory Commission has formulated 10 major principles including prohibiting illegal solicitation by overseas currency dealers. Article

7)Taiwan wants to restrict unregistered overseas crypto exchanges. Article

9 and 15)Taiwan: Virtual Currencies Comparative Guide. Article

10)已完成洗錢防制法令遵循聲明之虛擬通貨平台及交易業務事業名單(111.9.2 更新). Virtual currency platforms and transactions that have completed the declaration of compliance with money laundering prevention laws and regulations. Business list (updated on 111.9.2). PDF-file

11)Binance Applies for AML Registration in Taiwan After Withdrawing Request for German Regulatory Approval. Article

12)The block. Binance is applying to get registered in Taiwan for AML compliance: sources. Article

13)PWC. Taiwan. Individual - Taxes on personal income