Taiwan: A Licence You Can Get, for a Business You Cannot Run
Taiwan has a registration regime for virtual asset service providers, eleven registered firms, and a comprehensive licensing law already signed by the President. On paper this reads like a maturing market. For a crypto ATM operator it is closed, and not because the licence is hard to get. Since June 2025 registered providers have been barred from settling virtual-asset transactions with customers in cash — and in January 2026 the last registered operator of physical shops and machines closed, citing the change in supervisory policy. A new Act will eventually require separate approval for every automated machine, but it is not yet in force.
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No cash
Since June 2025, registered providers may not settle virtual-asset transactions with customers in cash
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30 Jan 2026
The last registered provider in the ATM and over-the-counter category ceased business
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Q1 2027
Earliest the new licensing Act could take effect — automated equipment will need its own approval
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Last updated: September 2026
The Obstacle Is Not the Licence — It Is the Cash
Taiwan has a working registration regime for virtual asset service providers, eleven registered firms, and a comprehensive licensing law already signed by the President.¹ ⁶ On paper this reads like a maturing market. For a crypto ATM operator it is closed, and the reason sits in a single rule that has nothing to do with licensing difficulty.
In May 2025 the Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission wrote to the industry association requiring it to revise its self-regulatory rules, within one month, so that members would no longer accept cash for virtual-asset transactions. The association's board adopted the revision on 6 June 2025 and the Commission recorded its approval on 19 June 2025.³ Article 30 of those rules now provides that members and customers must conduct virtual-asset transactions by a method that preserves a record of the money flow, and may not do so in cash.⁴
The Commission was careful at the time to deny that it had banned New Taiwan dollar trading or over-the-counter businesses as such, and said qualified applicants could still apply to conduct virtual-asset exchange activity.³ The restriction is specifically on cash — which happens to be the one thing a conventional crypto ATM cannot do without.
Because a registered provider cannot operate without joining that association,² the rule is not optional guidance. Taiwanese industry coverage summarised the practical effect in one sentence: even holding a provider registration, a firm cannot run offline exchange shops or Bitcoin ATM businesses.³
This is the same shape as several other markets in this hub. The country is not hostile to crypto, the licence is obtainable, and the machine still cannot perform the function it exists to perform.
What Happened to the Operators
The clearest evidence is not a legal argument but a commercial outcome.
HzBit announced on 30 January 2026 that it was ceasing business the same day, citing recent changes in government supervisory policy alongside a wider strategic adjustment. Industry reporting at the time described it as the last registered member in the category covering over-the-counter shops and ATM operators, and a Commission official noted that the firm had held only one physical location when it applied to register. Its departure left eight registered providers.⁵
The register has since grown back: by 29 September 2026 eleven firms had completed registration, the most recent authorised for virtual-asset exchange, trading platform, transfer and custody services.⁶ The register records the service types each firm may provide; it does not record any operator of cash-accepting machines.
What the Older Figures Show — and Do Not
Taiwan does have a history with these machines, and it is worth separating from the present.
In January 2014 the Financial Supervisory Commission said it would not permit Bitcoin ATMs, on the basis that Bitcoin was not recognised as legal currency.¹⁰ That was the regulator's position at the time rather than a permanent statutory ban, and machines appeared regardless.
By January 2022 the Commission had identified at least 24 Bitcoin ATMs in Taiwan, operated by different companies for different purposes. One of those operators was among sixteen virtual-asset businesses that had reported anti-money-laundering practices to the Commission; the others were unregulated. The Commission also noted machines permitting trades without customer identification.⁷
That figure is four years old and predates both the registration regime and the cash rule. It describes a market that no longer exists and should not be read as a current installed base. Directory listings for individual machines circulate online, but a listing is not evidence that a machine is operating today or that it has regulatory approval.
The Rules in Force Today
Article 6 of the Money Laundering Control Act took effect on 30 November 2024. Providing covered virtual-asset services — including exchanging virtual assets for New Taiwan dollars or foreign currency — without completing registration with the Commission is a criminal offence carrying up to two years' imprisonment, detention, or a fine of up to NT$5 million. Where the offender is a legal person, the entity faces a fine of up to NT$50 million.¹
Registration alone is not sufficient to operate. A registered provider must join the Taiwan Virtual Asset Service Provider Association before beginning business, and must apply to the Commission and obtain approval before changing the number or the locations of its automated service equipment.²
That last requirement is worth noting: Taiwanese regulation already treats an unattended machine as something the regulator approves site by site, not as ordinary equipment a licensed firm may deploy at will.
The New Act Is Signed but Not Operational
The Legislative Yuan passed the Virtual Asset Service Act at third reading on 30 June 2026, and the President promulgated it on 22 July 2026. The Commission's legal database records that the Act has not yet come into force; Article 56 leaves the commencement date to the Executive Yuan.⁸
On 2 September 2026 the Commission's chairman, Peng Jin-lung, said nine subordinate regulations were being prepared and that they could be announced and implemented as early as the first quarter of 2027.¹¹ That is an earliest estimate rather than a date fixed in law.
The Act establishes seven categories of virtual-asset service requiring permission, with exchanging virtual assets for currency falling under the exchange category.⁸ ⁹ It does not create a separate crypto ATM licence. What it does do is address the machines directly: Article 7 provides that a provider setting up branches or automated service equipment must obtain the Commission's permission or approval, with the conditions and procedures left to implementing rules.⁸
Article 55 gives providers that completed registration before the Act takes effect, and financial institutions already providing covered services, twelve months to apply and twenty-one months to obtain a licence, extendable once by up to three months. The period runs from commencement, and it applies to registered providers — not to a machine or an operator outside the register.⁸
Penalties under the Act are substantially heavier than those in force today: operating without permission carries up to seven years' imprisonment and a fine of up to NT$100 million.⁹ Those figures belong to a regime that has not yet started.
What Entry Would Require
An operator assessing Taiwan faces a sequence rather than a single obstacle. Registration with the Commission comes first, then membership of the association, then approval for the number and location of each machine. None of that is prohibitive on its own.
The cash rule is what breaks the model, and it cannot be met by paying more or waiting longer. A conventional machine taking banknotes from a walk-up customer is the transaction the association's rules forbid its members from conducting. Whether a materially different, cashless design could be presented to the Commission is a question for Taiwanese counsel; no public evidence of an approved model of that kind was found.
The position may change when the Act commences and its nine implementing regulations are published, because Article 7 will put automated equipment squarely within a licensing framework for the first time. Until those rules exist, what they will require is unknown. GENERAL BYTES supplies hardware and software; the regulatory obligations described here attach to the provider operating the exchange and the customer flow.
Sources and references:
1. Financial Supervisory Commission — press release on Article 6 of the Money Laundering Control Act (in force 30 November 2024; up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of up to NT$5 million, up to NT$50 million for a legal person), 2. Regulations Governing Anti-Money Laundering Registration of Enterprises or Persons Providing Virtual Asset Services (Article 6(2) association membership before operating; Article 9(1) prior approval to change the number or locations of automated service equipment), 3. BlockTempo — FSC Securities and Futures Bureau direction of May 2025 on traceable payment methods (reporting that a registered provider cannot operate offline exchange shops or Bitcoin ATM businesses) & Bitget News (Bureau letter of 7 May 2025 giving the association one month to revise its rules; Commission's denial that New Taiwan dollar or over-the-counter trading as such was prohibited), 4. Taiwan Virtual Asset Service Provider Association — anti-fraud self-regulatory rules, Article 30 (board adopted 6 June 2025, recorded by the Commission 19 June 2025: members and customers must use a method preserving a money-flow record and may not transact in cash), 5. BlockTempo — HzBit announces immediate closure, 30 January 2026 & Economic Daily News (eight registered providers remaining at that point), 6. CNA — one further provider completes AML registration, bringing the total to eleven, 29 September 2026 & Financial Supervisory Commission press release on the register, 7. Taipei Times — FSC findings on Bitcoin ATMs, 21 January 2022 (at least 24 machines; one operator among sixteen businesses that had reported AML practices, the others unregulated), 8. Virtual Asset Service Act, Financial Supervisory Commission legal database (promulgated 22 July 2026, recorded as not yet in force; Article 6 service categories, Article 7 permission for branches and automated service equipment, Article 55 transition, Article 56 commencement by the Executive Yuan), 9. TRM Labs — analysis of the Virtual Asset Service Act (third reading 30 June 2026; seven service categories; transition of twelve and twenty-one months extendable by three; unlicensed operation up to seven years and NT$100 million), 10. Focus Taiwan / CNA — Bitcoin ATM not allowed in Taiwan: FSC, 6 January 2014 (“will not allow the installation of any Bitcoin ATMs in Taiwan because the virtual currency has yet to be recognized as a legal currency”), 11. Focus Taiwan / CNA — FSC chairman Peng Jin-lung on nine implementing regulations and a Q1 2027 earliest rollout, 2 September 2026
Legal Disclaimer: This article by GENERAL BYTES is for informational purposes only and does not constitute formal legal, financial, or investment advice. Taiwan's Virtual Asset Service Act was promulgated on 22 July 2026 but is not yet in force, its commencement date and nine implementing regulations remain pending, and the association rule described here may be revised; always consult specialised Taiwanese legal counsel before considering market entry.