Taiwanese authorities have banned the payment of cryptocurrency by bank cards

According to the Taiwan regulator, digital currencies are high-risk assets and therefore payment cards should not be used to purchase them.

The Taiwan Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) sent a letter to the Taiwan Banking Association. The agency has required bankers not to grant merchant status to virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in payment card transactions. This means that local credit and debit card holders will not be able to use plastic to buy crypto assets. The regulator clarified that the cards are considered consumer payment instruments, so they should not be involved in speculative transactions and high-risk investments.

In addition to acquiring cryptocurrencies, Taiwanese citizens will not be able to use bank cards to buy stocks, futures and options, or participate in online gambling. The agency explained that one of the reasons for the introduction of restrictions was the downturn in the digital asset market. The FSC has always had concerns that crypto assets could be used for money laundering. In addition, transactions with virtual assets are quite difficult to trace.

FSC has given banks, financial institutions and card issuing companies three months to optimize their operations to comply with the new rules. After making adjustments, companies must conduct an internal audit and report the results to the regulator.

In June, the Central Bank of Taiwan urged the public to refrain from investing in collectible tokens (NFTs), as they are often used for phishing attacks. At the same time, the central bank is developing its own digital currency. Recently, the Central Bank of Taiwan reported that research in this area may take several more years.