The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it would take a cautious approach toward implementation of securities token offerings (STOs), as it plans to introduce new laws by June to address the growing popularity of virtual currencies.
Interested parties might be allowed to raise up to NT$30 million (US$973,489) through STOs, but blockchain-based tokens would not be allowed as equities, the commission said.
A securities token is a kind of virtual currency. Unlike bitcoin, which has no central issuer and can only be released through a process called “mining,” securities tokens are launched by companies aiming to raise funds.
“The securities tokens are issued in foreign countries as digital assets based on blockchain technology,” Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
“So far, holders of securities tokens enjoy certain ownership in the issuing companies and can receive dividends as if they are investing in stocks,” Tsai said.
“They can also receive interest payments from the sale of securities tokens as with corporate bonds,” she said.
As securities tokens possess securities-like attributes, their issuance would be subject to traditional securities regulations, she said.
However, the commission initially would only permit securities tokens to offer interest payments as bonds and would require the issuers to clearly state how many they plan to distribute, Tsai said.
The commission would prohibit companies from offering equities-like tokens, as such practice is more strictly regulated by the Company Act (公司法), she said.
“The offering of equities-like tokens are possible, but we prefer a step-by-step approach to see how STOs do first,” Tsai said.
The commission’s threshold of NT$30 million for fundraising followed discussions with several parties interested in STOs, Tsai said, adding that the amount should be enough for start-ups, or small or medium-sized enterprises.
Unlike an initial public offering, STOs would be exempted from some administrative requirements and could proceed much faster, Tsai said.
As for companies that intend to raise more than NT$30 million through an STO, they would have to run experiments in a regulatory sandbox so the commission could carefully monitor the risks, Tsai said, adding that sandbox investments would be limited to NT$200 million.
“So far, more than one company has expressed interest in running a sandbox experiment to provide virtual-currency services, but not everyone plans to launch an STO, a new investment tool that began to emerge in the second half of last year,” Department of Planning Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) said.
Maicoin (現代財富科技), a local platform for virtual currencies, has expressed an interest in an STO, Lin said.
The commission would counsel the firm before accepting its formal application, he said.
The commission would establish an independent platform for the trade of security tokens that is different from the Taiwan Stock Exchange or the Taipei Exchange, it said.
The commission said that plans to issue special licenses to companies operating virtual currencies, which would require special software to accept sell and buy orders.
However, the commission still has many issues to resolve, such as whether tokens should be standardized, or if tokens should be secured by collateral.
“We have outlined our strategy, but there is more to be discussed,” Tsai said, adding that the commission has invited private-sector parties to a forum next week to discuss the proposed regulations in detail.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
RSS