Do not try the law with your own body! Taiwan's VASP registration system is implemented, and unregistered virtual asset services may face up to 2 years of imprisonment.

The Legislative Yuan passed the amendment to the Money Laundering Prevention Act in July this year, stipulating that virtual asset service providers (VASPs) must complete registration before providing services. The Financial Supervisory Commission announced on Wednesday that the ‘VASP registration system’ will officially launch one month ahead of schedule on November 30; those who operate without registration or approval may face up to 2 years of imprisonment.

In its statement, the FSC pointed out that the amendment to Article 6 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which was announced in July this year, will be implemented from November 30. Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) that have not completed the Anti-Money Laundering registration will not be allowed to provide virtual asset services; overseas operators that have not registered their company or branch office, as well as Anti-Money Laundering registration, will also not be allowed to provide virtual asset services in Taiwan. Violators will face criminal liability of up to 2 years.

In other words, at present, the declaration of compliance with the Money Laundering Prevention Act has not been completed, but operators intending to engage in virtual asset business can register with the Financial Supervisory Commission after the regulations are in place, and can only engage in virtual asset business after completing the registration.

As for the 26 VASP platform operators who have already completed the Money Laundering prevention law compliance declaration, the FSC has specially formulated transitional provisions. They must apply for registration with the FSC by March 31 next year at the latest, and “complete registration” by September 30 next year; if they fail to complete the registration and continue to operate beyond the deadline, they may face a maximum of 2 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 5 million NT dollars, or both.

According to earlier reports, the biggest difference between the ‘compliance statement’ and the ‘registration system’ is that the former does not specify the specific qualifications of the operators, while the latter will specify qualifications such as capital, cybersecurity, personnel, etc.

In addition, the original management of virtual asset operators was through “administrative penalties”, and in the past, if they were caught without completing the legal compliance declaration, they only needed to be fined; However, after the amendment of the Money Laundering Prevention Law, it will be criminalized, and operating a virtual asset business without registration will be criminally liable.

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This article is authorized to be reprinted from: “Blockchain Guest”

Do not test the law with your own body! Taiwan’s VASP registration system is in place, and unregistered virtual asset services could face a maximum penalty of 2 years’ imprisonment. This article was first published in ‘encryption city’.