The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus yesterday called for better financial education and oversight measures, as the nation was hit particularly hard by the fall of cryptocurrency exchange FTX last month.
Potentially billions of US dollars in value were lost after FTX experienced mass withdrawals following reports of financial mismanagement and a failed rescue deal, leading to a bankruptcy filing on Nov. 11 and the arrest of its founder.
Local cryptoexperts have estimated that more than 300,000 Taiwanese were affected by the collapse, with losses totaling more than NT$15 billion (US$488.1 million).
Photo: Bloomberg
This would make Taiwan the fifth-most affected country, excluding tax havens.
Considering its effect on Taiwan, the TPP caucus yesterday held a news conference at the legislature to call for better financial literacy.
Awareness of the risks of investing in the cryptocurrency market is insufficient among Taiwanese, TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.
At a G20 summit in Indonesia last month, world leaders called for an international framework for cryptomanagement based on the principle of “same activity, same risk, same regulation,” he said.
However, Taiwan’s only law governing cryptocurrency trading is the Regulations Governing Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism for Enterprises Handling Virtual Currency Platform or Transaction (虛擬通貨平台及交易業務事業防制洗錢及打擊資恐辦法), which was passed last year, he said.
For transactions outside of Taiwan, traders can only be advised to exercise caution, he said, urging the government to draft new regulations.
He also called for the creation of a central bank digital currency to provide a more secure and stable option for traders.
Most Taiwanese affected by the FTX collapse were students and people with limited funds, TPP Legislator Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) said, citing a local self-help association.
This year’s Taiwan Financial Lives Survey by the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance showed a decline in financial resilience and literacy among young people compared with two years ago, she added.
“People in the younger generation do not have high incomes and believe that investing is the fastest way to earn more money,” Wu quoted the report as saying. “They therefore prioritize investing when they have some extra cash.”
Young people often overlook the dangers of investing, she said, adding that the effects of the FTX collapse prove the importance of financial education.
Apart from business programs, the national curriculum for high-school students only covers economic theory with virtually no practical advice on personal finances or retirement planning, she said.
Especially considering the low incomes earned by recent graduates, many young people are drawn to investing to grow their wealth, leaving them vulnerable to traps, she said.
The Ministry of Education and the Financial Supervisory Commission should work together to draft a compulsory financial literacy curriculum to keep Taiwanese from falling victim in the next FTX-like incident, Wu said.
TPP Legislator Chen Wan-hui (陳琬惠) accused the Ministry of Digital Affairs of “doing nothing” in response to the FTX collapse, despite regulation of the digital economy falling under its purview.
The ministry should “fulfill its duty” and contribute to the development of the nation’s digital economy, Chen added.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS