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By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
Providers of automated teller machines (ATMs) that allow people to purchase cryptocurrencies with cash have to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and conduct know-your-customer (KYC) practices, or face a penalty, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
The FSC made the remarks following a nearly month-long investigation after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) on Dec. 23 raised questions about the machines’ operations during a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee.
The commission found that there are at least 24 bitcoin ATMs in Taiwan, which are operated by different companies for different purposes, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) said.
Photo: Bloomberg
One of the operators was among the 16 virtual-asset service providers that have reported to the commission about their compliance with AML regulations and practices, while the others are not regulated, he said.
“Some providers of those ATMs use the machines not as a tool to boost trade, but for marketing campaigns. They assign employees to tell people how to open an account at the companies’ digital platform to trade virtual coins online,” Tong said.
“However, we found that some ATMs allow consumers to trade cryptocurrencies without [the company] following KYC practices. Such providers might have contravened AML regulations,” he said.
The commission will ask the providers to work on AML compliance and failing that, they might be fined NT$500,000 (US$18,092) or more, he said.
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