Taiwan Says Bitcoin Should Be Added To AML Alert System

Taiwan is the latest country to make comments about bitcoin regulation, according to news from Reuters.

Governor Perng Fai-nan of Taiwan’s Central Bank said on Wednesday (Oct. 25) that the cryptocurrency bitcoin should be added to the notification system in the country in order to prevent money laundering. He made the comments when answering questions from lawmakers, reported Reuters.

Taiwan is the latest in a slew of countries to issue formal comments about the necessity of bitcoin regulation, despite the fact that the cryptocurrency surpassed $6,000 after starting the year trading around $1,000.

Earlier this month, Russian authorities decided to regulate the cryptocurrency market, gearing up to have new rules in place by the end of 2017. According to a Reuters report citing Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a meeting of senior Russian officials on Oct. 10 to discuss the virtual currency market, including the associated risks from an investment perspective and how it could be used for crime. Russia’s central bank has already said it will block selling cryptocurrencies to households, reported Reuters.

“The president has spoken of the problems related to cryptocurrencies,” TASS, a Russian news agency, quoted Siluanov — who attended the meeting with Putin — as saying. “These are difficulties regarding … money laundering and cases that are related to identification issues. That’s why we have agreed that the state should regulate the issuing of cryptocurrencies, their mining and turnover. The state should take all this under control.”

Meanwhile, in September China issued a document for local Chinese regulators to launch a shutdown of the exchanges. Earlier that month, the country put in place an immediate ban on funding of initial coin offerings (ICOs) for bitcoin and other blockchain-enabled cryptocurrencies.

TechCrunch reported at the time that the nation’s central bank claimed ICOs have “disrupted the economic and financial order.” Seven government administrations said jointly that the ICO exists as an unauthorized fundraising effort that may, in fact, be tied up in scams.