Elliptic – the global leader in cryptoasset risk management – is partnering with MaiCoin and MAX Exchange, which are both integral platforms of MaiCoin Group in Taiwan. The collaboration will further MaiCoin Group’s commitment “to advancing digital assets into the mainstream, while providing its clientele... Read More

London-based Elliptic, MaiCoin, MAX Exchange to Enhance AML Capabilities in Taiwan

Apart from local exchanges like Maicoin, major global crypto trading firms like Binance, ByBit and Kraken have also been serving customers in Taiwan. 35 Total views
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Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is moving to improve protections for cryptocurrency investors by introducing new rules. The FSC has formulated the key points of regulating the cryptocurrency market in Taiwan, releasing on Sept. 26 a set of industry guidelines for virtual asset service providers (VASP) operating in the country. In the guidelines, the authority mentioned some common industry-wide rules like separating exchange’s treasury assets from customer assets as well as reviewing mechanisms for listing and delisting virtual assets. The FSC also required foreign VASPs to refrain from providing its services in Taiwan without holding necessary approvals from the regulator. The FSC stated:
“Overseas virtual asset platform operators are not allowed to provide business within the territory of the country [...] unless they have been registered in accordance with the law.”
The authority also said that VASPs are invited to promote self-regulation in the cryptocurrency industry, as relevant VASP associations are expected to formulate self-regulatory norms based on the contents of the guiding principles. The guidelines came in conjunction with major crypto exchanges in Taiwan announcing the establishment of a joint self-regulatory association . On Sept. 26, local exchanges like Maicoin, BitstreetX, Hoya Bit, Bitgin, Rybit, Xrex and Shangbito officially formed Taiwan VASP Association, aiming to promote the industry and help regulators.

Taiwan bans unregistered foreign crypto exchanges from operating

The downfall of Silvergate, Signature and Silicon Valley banks have wounded digital assets. But crypto might one day work with big banks if the industry can mature, WAX CEO William Quigley and Maicon CEO Alex Liu suggested. The voluntary liquidation of Silvergate , crypto’s go-to bank, and subsequent regulator action to seize Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves through the industry. While depositors will be made whole , the shockwaves the industry is feeling are no longer from the concept of funds lost, but rather the loss of industry-friendly banks that were pillars of the sector. Most large, brand-name banks wouldn’t work with a small venture fund, a tech startup, or a crypto company – not to mention exchange –. But Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature saw these as valued clients. Everyone from OKX’s U.S. exchange OKCoin to CoinDesk itself has been impacted by the demise of these three institutions. “We're going to struggle with banking for a while,” William Quigley, a Tether co-founder and CEO of non-fungible token exchange WAX, told CoinDesk in an interview. Quigley, who left Tether in 2015, is disappointed with its current management . Holding long-dated, government-issued debt , purchased when interest rates were low, then having to jettison it at fire-sale prices to shore up liquidity when startup clients stopped raising money and started spending, was not a great move by banks. But this action should have only been a challenge and not a fatality, he says. “It’s not the first time in the history of Silicon Valley that a weird phenomenon happened,” he said. “Has there ever been a rush of money into a sector, which then goes into [SVB], and gets burned off as the companies are making payroll? It’s literally how the system works!”
Quigley says that around June 2022 someone in management should have noticed and moved to sell off the portfolio and take the losses, or bring in more deposits. “I've been an audit committee chairman and a bank auditor. I know the conversation that happens when deposits are going down at an accelerated rate and our investment portfolio is being impaired to the point where we don’t have enough money to pay off depositors,” he said. Management should have been in touch with the Fed in January, and the Fed should have put the bank in some sort of supervisory wind-down then. “It’s banking 101.”
The problem that’s going to emerge from this, he says, is a lack of trust. SVB was regulated by multiple federal and state agencies, had a clean audit opinion, and was rated as investment grade by a federally licensed rating agency, making it seem like a good bank. “It’s unfair to expect depositors to know more than all the regulators and regulated entities that reviewed the bank,” he said, pointing out that the U.S. can’t have a “South American” banking environment where minimal funds are kept in the bank because of low institutional trust. VC and crypto investors prefer working with small, non-systemically important banks due to hesitance from big banks to work with these companies because of regulatory uncertainty, he explained. But that doesn’t mean it's impossible. As CoinDesk recently reported , crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) has been having productive conversations with the likes of Santander (SAN), HSBC (HSBA), Deutsche Bank, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore, as well as fintechs such as Revolout about onboarding its portfolio companies. (DCG is also the parent company of CoinDesk). Big banks can onboard crypto companies
DCG is reportedly having conversations with big banks, but there’s no guarantee that they will come to fruition. These banks might end up spooked and decline to onboard companies orphaned by Silvergate-SVB-Signature. For roughly the last decade, Taiwanese crypto exchange Maicoin has had a fiat on and offramp with Far Eastern International Bank, which would be categorized as a big bank by the Fed. Alex Liu, the CEO of Maicoin, told CoinDesk that there wasn’t really any magic to convincing banks to give his exchange fiat pipelines. He’s also quick to highlight that the root cause of these three banks' demise in the U.S. is not crypto itself. “It involves being able to come across not as a bomb-throwing radical. It helps if you can put on a suit, and talk about things like investor protection, KYC, AML, and so-forth,” he said. It also helps to have a physical address for your headquarters, he continued. Maicoin’s headquarters are in an office tower in downtown Taipei. “How many crypto companies refuse to do that one thing?” he asks. One of its local competitors is in a neighboring tower, visible from Liu’s office, yet provides an address on business cards for an off-shore jurisdiction. Liu also says that a big part of getting banking access was respecting the idea of equivalence. This means anything from ensuring that you are compliant in any jurisdiction you operate into respecting TradFi rules that may apply to crypto too. In Taiwan, for instance, trading futures or options is a licensed activity. “We know plenty of players that said, ‘Oh, those equivalent rules don't apply to us, because there's nothing on the books that says they apply to us,” Liu said. “That could make you a lot of money for a while, but at some point, you’re going to get called on that.”
Will crypto’s U.S. banking problems ricochet to Asia? As all of this occurs, many jurisdictions in Asia, from Hong Kong to Taiwan, are working on building a crypto licensing regime for retail traders. Certainly, they will be looking to the U.S. to see what’s going on especially given the last six months which involved the collapse of FTX, and now three banks. No regulator or lawmaker in the U.S. has come out and said directly: ‘hey, let’s just ban this thing,” Liu points out. Asia regulators are going to take that as a clue. “The collapse of three banks, two of which are related, will give them a lot to think about as they shape their regulations,” he said. “It’s the stuff of regulator nightmares.”

Crypto Must Do Better to Be Banked, Say Industry Executives

Inflation dipped encouragingly. Investor hopes for a less draconian U.S. central bank continued. Bitcoin embraced the more upbeat vibe and continued its romp upward for much of Tuesday, rising above $26,000 at one point for the first time since last summer before retreating more than a $1,000. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at $24,936, up about 2% over the past 24 hours. BTC's stall followed two consecutive days of double-digit gains tied to Binance stablecoin conversions, investors' relief that the banking sector would not collapse, and that the Federal Reserve would reverse its steady diet of hawkish interest rate hikes. On Tuesday, a small decline in the  Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 6.4% in January to 6% last month seemed to offer the Fed fresh grounds for monetary dovishness. Even a month-over-month increase in the the core inflation rate, which removes volatile food and energy costs, included a counterweight – a slight annual decline. “Bitcoin is surging because the liquidity situation appears to be shifting rapidly," Joe Ziolkowski, the CEO and co-founder of digital asset insurer Relm Insurance, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. "Today’s CPI data shows that inflation is slowing. Ziolkowski noted that  the latest banking crisis involving the collapse of Signature, Silvergate and Silicon Valley banks had "triggered a federal response, injecting a lot of money in the economy, and strengthened Bitcoin's use case as a decentralized alternative to our existing banking system." "Investors are clearly showing confidence in this," he wrote. Ether was changing hands just above $1,700, about where it stood on Monday, same time. The second largest cryptocurrency has roughly matched BTC's upswing this week. Other major cryptos spent most of Tuesday healthfully in the green before flattening. APT, the token of layer 1 blockchain Aptos was recently up more than 14%. CRO, the native crypto of crypto exchange Crypto.com, rose about 6%. The CoinDesk Market Index , a measure of the crypto market's overall performance, climbed 2.4%. U.S. equity markets also took heart from the CPI report with the tech-focused Nasdaq and S&P 500 jumping 2.1% and 1.6%, respectively. But as CoinDesk analyst Glenn Williams wrote in his Tuesday column, the Fed's path forward at its March 22 meeting remains uncertain. Reim's Ziolkowski noted optimistically that "pressure is now mounting on the Federal Reserve to slow the pace of rate hikes, and perhaps even stop hiking altogether, given that the rapid rate increases over the last year have clearly placed significant stress on the system." He added: "The setup for a durable rally for Bitcoin and other digital assets appears to be in play.”
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Crypto Industry's Banking Learning Curve
The voluntary liquidation of Silvergate , crypto’s go-to bank, and subsequent regulator action to seize Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves through the industry. While depositors will be made whole , the shockwaves the industry is feeling are no longer from the concept of funds lost, but rather the loss of industry-friendly banks that were pillars of the sector. As CoinDesk recently reported [link], Crypto companies being orphaned by the downfall of Silvergate and Signature as well as the incompetence of Silicon Valley Bank, hurt the industry. William Quigley, a co-founder of Tether, who now runs the non-fungible token (NFT) exchange WAX, highlighted to CoinDesk in an interview that Silicon Valley Bank’s demise was one based on managerial incompetence. Holding long-dated, government-issued debt , purchased at a time when interest rates were low, then having to jettison it at fire-sale prices to shore up liquidity when its startup clients stopped raising money and started just spending, was not a great move but should have only been a challenge and not a fatality for banks, he says. Quigley says that around June 2022 management should have noticed the impairment of its bonds and government securities and moved to sell off the portfolio and take the losses, or bring in more deposits. “I've been an audit committee chairman and a bank auditor. I know the conversation that happens when deposits are going down at an accelerated rate and our investment portfolio is being impaired to the point where we don’t have enough money to pay off depositors,” he said. A lack of communication
Management should have been in touch with the Fed in January, and the Fed should have put the bank in some sort of supervisory wind-down then. The problem that’s going to emerge from this, he says, is a lack of trust. SVB was regulated by multiple federal and state agencies, had a clean audit opinion, and was rated as investment grade by a federally licensed rating agency, making it seem like a good bank. SVB existed because large banks would typically not give tech startups and crypto companies the time of day. But that doesn’t mean it's impossible. As CoinDesk recently reported , crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) has been having productive conversations with the likes of Santander (SAN), HSBC (HSBA), Deutsche Bank, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore, as well as fintechs such as Revolout about onboarding its portfolio companies. DCG is reportedly having conversations with big banks, but there’s no guarantee that they will come to fruition. These banks might end up spooked by something, and decline to onboard companies orphaned by Silvergate-SVB-Signature. For roughly the last decade, Taiwanese crypto exchange Maicoin has had fiat on and offramps with Far Eastern International Bank, which would be categorized as a big bank by the Fed. Alex Liu, the CEO of Maicoin, told CoinDesk that there wasn’t really any magic to convincing banks to give his exchange fiat pipelines. He’s also quick to point out that the root cause of these three banks' demise in the U.S. is not crypto itself. “It involves being able to come across not as a bomb-throwing radical. It helps if you can put on a suit, and talk about things like investor protection, KYC, AML, and so-forth,” he said. It also helps to have a physical address for your headquarters, he continued. Maicoin’s headquarters are in an office tower in downtown Taipei. “How many crypto companies refuse to do that one thing?” he asks. Crypto banking issues in Asia? As all of this occurs, many jurisdictions in Asia, from Hong Kong to Taiwan, are working on building a crypto licensing regime for retail traders. Certainly they will be looking to the U.S. to see what’s going on especially given the last six months which involved the collapse of FTX, and now three banks. No regulator or lawmaker in the U.S. has come out and said directly: ‘hey, let’s just ban this thing,” Liu points out. Regulators in Asia are going to take that as a clue. Important events.

First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Holds Near $25K as Investors Remain Upbeat About Inflation Data, Fed Rate Hikes

Eleon 16 mins ago
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The voluntary liquidation of Silvergate, the crypto bank of record, and subsequent action by the regulator to seize Silicon Valley Bank sent shockwaves through the industry. While depositors will be healed, the shockwaves felt by the industry no longer come from the concept of lost funds, but rather from the loss of industry-friendly banks that were pillars of the sector. Most big brand banks wouldn’t work with a small venture capital fund, tech startup, or crypto company, let alone an exchange. But Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature considered them valued customers. Everyone from the US exchange of OKX OKCoin to CoinDesk itself has been affected by the disappearance of these three institutions. “We’re going to struggle with banking for a while,” William Quigley, co-founder of Tether and CEO of non-fungible token exchange WAX, told CoinDesk in an interview. Quigley, who left Tether in 2015, is disappointed with its current management. Holding long-term government-issued debt, bought when interest rates were low, then having to dump it at sell-off prices to shore up liquidity when startup clients stopped raising money and started spend, was not a good decision of the banks. But this action should have been only a challenge and not a fatality, he says. “This is not the first time in the history of Silicon Valley that a strange phenomenon has occurred,” he said. “Has there ever been a rush for money in a sector, which then goes into (SVB) and is burned while companies make payrolls? This is literally how the system works! Quigley says that around June 2022, someone in management should have noticed this and decided to sell the portfolio and take the losses, or bring in more deposits. “I was chairman of an audit committee and a bank auditor. I know the conversation that takes place when deposits decline at an accelerating rate and our investment portfolio is compromised to the point that we don’t have enough money to reimburse depositors,” he said. Management should have been in contact with the Fed in January, and the Fed should have then put the bank into some sort of prudential liquidation. “It’s bank 101.”
The problem that will emerge from this, he says, is a lack of trust. SVB was regulated by several federal and state agencies, had an unqualified audit opinion, and was rated as an investment by a federally approved rating agency, making it a good bank. “It is unfair to expect depositors to know more than all the regulators and regulated entities that have looked at banking,” he said, pointing out that the United States cannot have a banking environment. “South American” where minimal funds are kept in the bank because of low institutional trust. Venture capitalists and crypto investors prefer working with smaller, non-systemically important banks due to the reluctance of large banks to work with such firms due to regulatory uncertainty, he explained. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. As CoinDesk recently reported, crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) has had productive conversations with companies like Santander (SAN), HSBC (HSBA), Deutsche Bank, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore, as well than with fintechs such as Revolut on the integration of its portfolio companies. (DCG is also the parent company of CoinDesk). Big banks can onboard crypto companies
DCG is said to have conversations with major banks, but there is no guarantee that they will materialize. These banks could end up being scared off and refusing to integrate Silvergate-SVB-Signature orphan companies. For the past decade or so, Taiwanese crypto exchange Maicoin has had a deal with Far Eastern International Bank, which would be classified as a major bank by the Fed. Alex Liu, CEO of Maicoin, told CoinDesk that there isn’t really any magic in convincing banks to give away its exchange fiat pipelines. He is also quick to point out that the root cause of the demise of these three banks in the US is not crypto itself. “It involves being able to not come across as a bomb-throwing radical. It helps if you can put on a suit and talk about things like investor protection, KYC, AML, etc. “, did he declare. It’s also helpful to have a physical address for your headquarters, he continued. Maicoin’s headquarters are in an office tower in downtown Taipei. “How many crypto companies refuse to do this one thing?” he asks. One of its local competitors is in a nearby tower, visible from Liu’s office, but provides an address on business cards for an offshore jurisdiction. Liu also says that much of the access to banking services respected the idea of ​​equivalence. This means everything from ensuring that you are compliant in any jurisdiction you operate in by adhering to TradFi rules which may also apply to crypto. In Taiwan, for example, trading in futures or options is a permitted activity. “We know a lot of players who said, ‘Oh, those equivalent rules don’t apply to us, because there’s nothing in the books that says they apply to us,'” Liu said. . “It might make you a lot of money for a while, but at some point you’re going to get called out for it. Will U.S. Crypto Banking Troubles Reverberate in Asia? While all of this is happening, many jurisdictions in Asia, from Hong Kong to Taiwan, are working to implement a crypto licensing regime for retail merchants. Certainly they will be looking to the US to see what happens, especially given the past six months, which has involved the collapse of FTX, and now three banks. No regulator or lawmaker in the United States has come out and said directly, “Hey, let’s just ban this thing,” Liu points out. Asian regulators will take this as a clue. “The collapse of three banks, two of which are related, will give them a lot to think about as they shape their regulations,” he said. “It’s the stuff of regulators’ nightmares.”
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor. Eleon 16 mins ago

Crypto must do better to get bankable, say industry executives

Zilliqa is a high-performance, high-security blockchain platform that operates in the technology and financial services sectors. The company's main offerings include the development of decentralized applications (dApps), enabling users to create and use these applications more easily, and a blockchain network that supports staking and the use of its native token, ZIL. Zilliqa primarily serves industries such as finance, digital advertising, and gaming. It is based in Singapore.

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Zilliqa , the high-throughput public blockchain platform , has partnered with MaiCoin , a Taiwan-based one-stop digital asset exchange platform with trading and payment services to power Hg Exchange .

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MaiCoin is a company that focuses on cryptocurrency trading and blockchain technology. The company offers a range of services including digital asset trading platforms, blockchain solutions for the financial services industry, and digital asset custody and interbank transfer services. It primarily serves the financial services industry. It is based in Taiwan.

Name	Daniel Yang
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Status	Former

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