In order to comply with international trends and promote financial innovation, the Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission announced on November 28 the launch of a themed business trial of "Virtual Asset Custody (Custody) Business", which is open to financial industry players to apply for the trial, and it is announced that it will be launched in January 2025 Applications will be accepted from the 1st; according to the Financial Supervisory Commission, five private banks have expressed interest so far, and it is expected that the first trial case will be launched in the first half of next year.
Review period: 2 months, trial period: 6 months
For those interested in participating in the pilot program of the "Virtual Asset Custody Business", the Financial Supervisory Commission stated that they can submit requests for counseling from now on. The official acceptance period for the pilot application is "January 1 to April 30, 2025", and will be reviewed after review. Publish the list of businesses that have passed the review.
The Financial Supervisory Commission stated that "the review process is expected to be completed in 2 months." Business operators can also apply for counseling first. "The trial period is 6 months."
There are no restrictions on applicant qualifications
As for whether it will be fully launched in the future, it will depend on the results of the trial. The Financial Supervisory Commission also mentioned that the experience of this trial will also serve as an important reference for formulating relevant regulations and policy promotion in the future.
The Comprehensive Planning Division of the Financial Supervisory Commission pointed out that the scope of those who can apply for the trial has been expanded from banks and securities firms to the financial industry. Financial institutions and financial technology industry partners can also apply, and there are no restrictions on the qualifications of applicants. , mainly to assess the security and risk management capabilities of the industry.
"Virtual asset custody" does not include tokenized assets and NFTs
The Financial Supervisory Commission emphasized that the scope of "virtual asset custody business" is limited to virtual currencies, that is, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and does not include RWA tokenized assets, NFTs, etc.; the target customers are 26 companies that have completed money laundering compliance. Mainly the declared VASP operators, but foreign VASP operators can also apply.
According to the explanatory information published by the Financial Supervisory Commission, when applying for the trial operation of virtual asset custody business, 7 types of information must be explained and provided, including: custody model, customer service-related plans, regulatory compliance, organizational division of labor and management systems, security plans, asset isolation and Financial accounting system.
"The Financial Supervisory Commission promotes the trial launch of the "Virtual Asset Custody Business"! Applications will be accepted starting from New Year’s Day next year, and 5 banks are willing. This article was first published on (Block Guest).