The Japanese Financial Services Agency published a list of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges in November, which includes Bybit, MEXC, Bitget, KuCoin, and Bitcastle. The main reason is that they provide cryptocurrency exchange services to residents of Japan through online services. Bybit has already received three warning records, and MEXC and Bitget were warned last March. However, there have been no specific enforcement actions, indicating the limited effectiveness of this announcement. Additionally, in July of this year, many users in Japan saw the unregistered exchange Gate.io announce its exit from the Japanese market to comply with Financial Services Agency regulations. It is reported that the operator intends to obtain a local registration license through acquisition.
Taiwan also has a warning list, but it has no substantial meaning.
Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission announced guidelines for virtual currency operators, adopting a registration system and transforming the previous anti-money laundering declaration system. The Taiwan Securities Association has also established a warning zone website for 'securities and futures operators and products not approved by the Financial Supervisory Commission,' where almost all non-compliant exchange operators are listed. However, in practice, there is no substantial consumer protection and no enforcement actions. Currently, it seems that Taiwanese regulatory agencies can only assist consumers in choosing by labeling 'compliant' operators, without any proactive constraints on non-compliant operators. For investors who love investing and are willing to take risks, warnings may merely serve as a formality.
(Announcing risk control standards! Taiwan's virtual currency business association has published self-regulatory norms, and these behaviors will be monitored by trading surveillance.)
The Taiwan VASP Association has adopted international anti-money laundering standards to launch self-regulatory norms, with detailed provisions including 'advertising solicitation' content. Compared to offshore operators with diverse business models and few restrictions, this can be seen as a loss of effectiveness, leaving only the advantage of higher costs to solidify fiat currency inflow and outflow.
(Where is the line for cryptocurrency advertising solicitation? Will self-regulatory norms for exchange advertising affect media, influencers, and KOLs?)
This article warns about unregistered exchanges in Japan: Bybit, MEXC, Bitget, KuCoin are all on the list, but it is essentially useless. It first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.