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.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
RSS