As more Taiwanese convenience stores have started accepting bitcoin transactions, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it would not regulate the management of the virtual currency.
The commission and the central bank have reached a consensus on viewing bitcoin as a commodity rather than a currency, so that the two agencies will keep their hands off bitcoin management, FSC Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.
However, the commission will demand that local banks do not accept bitcoins for third-party receipts or payments, Tseng said.
Tseng’s remarks came after Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s second-largest convenience store operator, announced earlier yesterday plans to form a partnership with BitoEX Technology Co (幣託科技), a Taiwanese bitcoin wallet provider.
The partnership transforms bitcoins from a virtual wallet into coupons that can be used in nearly 3,000 FamilyMart stores.
BitoEX teamed up with FamilyMart and two smaller convenience store chains — Hi-Life International Co (萊爾富國際) and OK Mart Co (來來超商) — late last year to make bitcoin purchases available in local convenience stores.
Bitcoin was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto as an alternative to government-run monetary systems, and was released in 2009 as an open-source software.
It is controlled by an international network of computers and can be used to buy goods and services, traded for traditional currency on a bitcoin exchange, or stored in a virtual wallet.
The central bank last year said that bitcoin is a highly speculative virtual product and lacks a mechanism to protect transactions.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he