Taiwan has reportedly enacted increased regulations on the anonymous use of cryptocurrency.
As reported by Focus Taiwan, the national legislature passed amendments last week to the Money Laundering Control Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention Act regarding cryptocurrency transactions without identified users. The new changes would give the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) authority to crack down on activity not associated with a real name:
“The FSC can now demand that operators of virtual currency platforms, including bitcoin, implement ‘real-name systems’ that require users to register their real names, according to the new provisions.”
This means that exchanges and other similar services would need to implement full AML/KYC checks on customers, requiring financial identities to be linked to customers wishing to deposit and withdraw. Violations of identity requirements could result in fines of up to a $144,507 USD value.
Regulatory increases make peer-to-peer exchanges more attractive
The advent of increasing regulations on the acquisition of cryptocurrency privately makes peer-to-peer exchanges and methods of buying and selling more attractive. Services such as CoinCola allow for over-the-counter trading for cryptocurrency for various payment methods with limited identifying information for smaller amounts. However, many of these platforms still require some sort of identification at certain levels, and any platform run by a central company will inherently have vulnerabilities to future regulations, as evidenced by ShapeShift, which previously allowed users to transact without setting up an account, but recently announced that it had been compelled to introduce some customer control requirements.
As such, truly peer-to-peer clients such as Bisq, as well as buying and selling in person at meetups or other similar situations, remain the most reliable private way of trading cryptocurrency, as there is no central service or website to target. Many of these options remain underdeveloped and difficult to use, but with increasing demand they promise to offer a smoother experience.
A thriving digital cash economy removes identity barriers for acquiring cryptocurrency
While buying and selling cryptocurrency remains the primary form of acquisition at present, the most private method remains to receive it as payment for goods and services in peer-to-peer transactions. Doing so removes the need to interact with the fiat currency world and relevant restrictions/regulations which may become more stringent as an increasing number of countries attempt to phase out of cash-based systems. As such, wide adoption of cryptocurrency promises to greatly facilitate its use and acquisition privately.
Dash has made significant inroads in cryptocurrency adoption, with over 4,000 known merchants recently passed on merchant listing site DiscoverDash. Over half of these are in Venezuela, a country with a much more acute need for alternative currencies due to its present economic struggles and hyperinflation issues.
