The TFTA 2023 commenced on the 23rd in Taipei, bringing together experts from authorities, the blockchain industry, and academic research fields from multiple countries to explore the global regulatory landscape on crypto finance and services.

23 Feb 2023, Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan FinTech Association’s 2023 Fintech Conference took place on 23rd February with the theme “Global Regulatory Landscape on Virtual Assets,” underscoring the significance of global financial regulations and frameworks, especially in light of recent incidents such as the FTX bankruptcy and the collapse of several cryptocurrency lending platforms in 2022. Jaclyn Tsai, Chairperson of the Taiwan FinTech Association and former Minister without Portfolio of the Executive Yuan inaugurated the event.

Wayne Huang, Co-founder and CEO of XREX, a blockchain-enabled financial institution that operates the XREX crypto-fiat exchange, chaired the panel discussion titled “The Journey to Obtain a License.” He emphasized that unreasonable or unfriendly local jurisdiction might stifle local innovations and push users to use offshore exchanges not subject to the laws.

“Some jurisdictions took the traditional financial frameworks and tried to slot virtual assets into there. We don’t think that works,” said Eleanor Hughes, Head of Legal APAC & MENA at Binance. In agreement, Payal Patel, VP, APAC Risk & Compliance at Circle, a major stablecoin issuer, emphasized that there are specific nuances associated with this area of digital payments, that require a more nuanced approach to regulations, and the bespoke regulations in Singapore are a good example.

She further expressed the importance of ensuring regulators have a thorough understanding of the nuances of the specific technology that they are supporting.

Bryan Chu, Product Head at Woo Network, and Darren Wang, Founder, and CEO of OwlTing Group, also participated in the panel discussion and emphasized the need for comprehensive and well-defined regulations covering licensing, business operations, and solvency requirements. They urged regulators to provide clear guidelines for businesses to operate in a transparent and accountable manner.

“A lot of these methods of proving the solvency of an exchange already exist in the traditional markets in the way of simple accounting. The difficulty is to find reputable audit companies who are comfortable doing these audits for us.” said Bryan Chu.

The 2023 Fintech Conference, hosted by the Taiwan Fintech Association and co-organized by Taiwan Blockchain Alliance, Taiwan Association For Blockchain Ecosystem Innovation, Taiwan Blockchain Academia, Taiwan Crypto Asset Anti-money Laundry Association, brought together distinguished guests from the USA, EU, Singapore, Japan, UAE, and Taiwan. Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Justice Ming-Tang Chen, Audrey Tang, Minister of Digital Affairs, and Former Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission Ming-Chung Tseng delivered remarks at the conference.

For the full transcript of the panel, please see here.

About XREX

XREX is a blockchain-enabled financial institution working with banks, regulators, and users to redefine banking together. We provide enterprise-grade banking services to small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in or dealing with emerging markets, and novice-friendly financial services to individuals worldwide.

Founded in 2018 and operating globally under multiple licenses, XREX offers a full suite of services such as digital asset custody, wallet, cross-border payment, fiat-crypto conversion, cryptocurrency exchange, asset management, and fiat currency on-off ramps.