Police in New Taipei, Taiwan, have arrested fifteen suspects for allegedly running a cryptocurrency scam that earned them millions of dollars, English-language local media Focus Taiwan reports on Jan. 26. According to the article, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) Li Chi-hsun said at a press conference that the fifteen suspects — including the alleged leader surnamed Lin — have been arrested in two separate raids carried out on Jan. 9 and Jan. 17. The arrested suspects have been reportedly charged with fraud, and the case has been handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. The group …

Seven people who allegedly managed a fraudulent crypto investment scheme have been indicted in Taiwan, according to a report by English-language local media FocusTaiwan on Jan. 18. According to the report, citing local prosecutors, the defendants were charged with the violation of Taiwan's Banking and Multi-Level Marketing Supervision acts. The group was reportedly arrested on June 13 last year for allegedly operating a fraudulent Bitcoin (BTC) investment scheme. According to FocusTaiwan, the scheme promised investors yearly returns of up to 355 percent. Because of this promise — which reportedly has not been upheld since returns dwindled after April 24 — …

Chip manufacturing giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) reported a sizeable drop in its crypto mining-related revenue in 2018. The news was revealed in the company’s Q4 2018 financial results, published Jan. 17, together with an earnings call transcript. TSMC has not disclosed specific data for its crypto mining business — including it instead within its high-performance computing (HPC) segment. In the earnings call transcript, TSMC CEO & Vice Chairman C.C. Wei revealed that whereas HPC, excluding crypto, had grown slightly: “[C]ryptocurrency is a big drop from 2018 to 2019. So if we put the cryptocurrency together in the HPC, it's …

A Taiwanese man suspected of stealing electricity worth over $3 million to mine Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) has been arrested, according to a report from local news channel EBC Dongsen News Dec. 26. The suspect, whose surname has been given as Yang, has been accused of allegedly stealing the electricity to successfully mine cryptocurrencies worth over 100 million yuan (around $14.5 million). Yang is purported to have used a minimum of 17 various business premises to open toy shops or internet cafes there as a facade for his alleged crypto mining activities. The report claims Yang hired electricians to …

Taiwan-based tech giant ASUS has partnered with GPU mining platform Quantumcloud to allow users to mine crypto via their graphic cards, multinational tech media TechRadar reported Thursday, Nov. 30. According to the agreement, ASUS graphic cards owners will be able to mine crypto through Quantumcloud software and withdraw earnings using PayPal or Chinese app WeChat. The new partnership allows gamers to monetize idle GPUs when the units are not occupied by graphic-consuming processes by mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC). However, Quatumcloud does not guarantee specific profits or outcomes for users, stating that users have to consider usage costs on …

On November 2, Taiwan officially tightened anti-money laundering (AML) policies targeted at crypto exchanges, requesting exchanges to monitor and prevent any illegal transaction processed using digital assets. According to the newly drafted Money Laundering Control Act and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act approved by the Legislative Yuan, one of the five branches of the Taiwanese government, the country’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) now has authority over crypto exchanges to ban transactions suspected of being tied to fraudulent operations. Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) released a statement following the approval of the new AML bill, emphasizing that the government is working towards …

Taiwan’s legislature has passed amendments to existing anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CFT) laws to place new requirements on crypto exchanges. The development was reported by FocusTaiwan, the English language news website of Taiwan's national news agency, on Nov. 2. Under the new changes to Taiwan’s Money Laundering Control Act and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act, the Legislative Yuan — the Taiwan-based unicameral legislature of the Republic of China — has given Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) the authority to bar anonymous crypto transactions. The FSC can now demand that exchange operators require their customers to register using real-names: …

Taiwan plans to release draft Initial Coin Offering (ICO) regulation by June 2019, local English-language daily news outlet Taipei Times reported Tuesday, Oct. 23. The publication quoted plans from Wellington Koo, chairman of Taiwanese finance regulator — the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) — who was speaking at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan Finance Committee. “The more we regulate, the more this new economic behavior wanes,” he told members of the meeting on Oct. 22. ICOs have created tension throughout international jurisdictions keen on avoiding consumer exposure to fraud. Locally, mainland China has banned the practice altogether, a move which …

Taiwanese electronics company HTC has announced the presale of its widely-discussed blockchain smartphone, Exodus 1, the product’s official Twitter account reveals Oct. 23. The Exodus 1 presale was officially announced today during the Web3 summit, taking place Oct. 22-24 in Berlin. According to the HTC Exodus website, “early access” to the phone can currently only be purchased via Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), and is available to 34 regions, including the U.S., U.K. and Hong Kong. At press time, pre-orders for the Exodus 1 are listed at around $960 (0.15 BTC or 4.78 ETH), with shipping date stated as December …

Major global chip manufacturing firm Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) predicts revenue growth in Q4, but expects a counterbalance due to the low demand for crypto mining hardware, Reuters reports Thursday, Oct. 18. TSMC, the world’s largest independent semiconductor foundry, forecasts “modest” revenue growth in the fourth quarter, mainly due to solid sales of high-end chips for premium smartphones. According to Reuters, TSMC is expecting Q4 revenue to increase to somewhere between $9.35 billion and $9.45 billion, as compared to $9.21 billion a year ago. However, the expected growth will be allegedly offset by the low sales of cryptocurrency mining equipment. …

MaiCoin, the largest one stop digital asset platform provider in Taiwan, recently launched it’s MAX Exchange. The exchange initially started by offering Taiwan Dollar (TWD) to crypto pairs and it currently lists 16 crypto/TWD pairs. As part of its global aspirations, MAX Exchange has recently launched a total of 51 crypto to crypto pairs which include both USDT and TWDT stablecoin pairs. MAX Expansion While TWD fiat trading is only open to citizens of Taiwan, crypto-to-crypto pairs are now available for the global market, requiring MAX users to register with an email address for Level 1 access. According to the …

South Korea’s LG UPlus, a mobile carrier owned by the country’s fourth largest conglomerate LG Corp., is launching a blockchain-based cross-carrier overseas payment service, Korea Times reports today, September 16. Last Thursday, September 13, LG UPlus had signed an MoU to develop the new service alongside three global partners: Taiwan-based Far EasTone Telecommunications, Japan’s SoftBank, and U.S.-based TBCASoft. Through the new service, users of one telecoms carrier will be able to frictionlessly complete transactions on the payment networks of another. According to the Korea Times, the first trial of the LG UPlus partners’ blockchain-based cross-carrier payment system (CCPS) is slated …