The Financial Supervisory Commission imposed heavy penalties on three exchanges on the same day, with deficiencies in anti-money laundering being the main reason.
On July 17, the Financial Supervisory Commission announced three penalty cases against virtual asset exchanges, with Hoya Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (HOYA BIT) fined 1.5 million NTD, Chain Technology Co., Ltd. (XREX) fined 1.02 million NTD, and Pioneer Digital Technology Co., Ltd. fined 500,000 NTD, totaling 3.02 million NTD for the three companies.
This penalty stems from the Financial Supervisory Commission's project inspections on anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing conducted on these three exchanges between November and December 2024. The inspection results revealed that all three companies had violated relevant provisions of the anti-money laundering law.
Hoya Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (HOYA BIT): Major deficiencies include failing to understand the purpose of establishing business relationships with non-high-risk customers, not implementing customer risk assessments, and failing to evaluate suspicious money laundering transactions reported by banks regarding fraudulent customers.
Chain Technology Co., Ltd. (XREX): Penalized for failing to investigate suspicious money laundering transactions, not conducting enhanced scrutiny on high-risk customers, not verifying wealth and source of funds, and retaining customer personal data on external systems without appropriate security measures, also violating personal data protection laws.
Pioneer Digital Technology Co., Ltd.: Deficiencies are concentrated on customer review measures, including approving registrations that should have been declined due to the establishment of business relationships and not confirming the wealth and source of funds for high-risk customers.
The three companies issued statements in response, emphasizing normal operations and proactive improvements.
In response to the penalties from the Financial Supervisory Commission, all three exchanges issued statements on the same day.
Hoya Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (HOYA BIT): Expresses humble acceptance of the guidance from the regulatory authority, and thanks for the valuable suggestions that allow the company to examine and optimize internal operations more deeply. The company emphasizes that this penalty has not affected customer rights and the normal operation of the platform, and investors can continue to use the service with peace of mind, promising to serve users with higher standards.
Click here to see the complete statement from HOYA BIT.
Chain Technology Co., Ltd. (XREX): In its statement, sincerely thanks the regulatory authority for its corrections, expressing humble reflection on the deficiencies and has initiated improvement and optimization measures. The company emphasizes its full commitment to meeting regulatory expectations in areas such as anti-money laundering and fraud prevention, combating terrorist financing, user reviews, transaction monitoring, and data preservation, and adequately protecting user rights.
Click here to see the complete statement from XREX
Pioneer Digital Technology Co., Ltd.: Humble acceptance of the shortcomings pointed out by the regulatory authority, and actively strengthening internal control systems and anti-money laundering mechanisms after the inspection. The company has deeply reviewed and immediately launched improvement plans, including strengthening internal controls, enhancing education and training, and upgrading risk management systems, emphasizing that this penalty has not affected platform operations and user rights.
Click here to see the complete statement from Pioneer Digital.
Review of financial inspection penalty cases shows that 1.5 million NTD has become the standard penalty for mainstream platforms.
Reviewing the Financial Supervisory Commission's recent penalties against virtual asset exchanges, it can be observed that regulatory intensity continues to strengthen. In July 2024, ACE Exchange was fined 1.52 million NTD for deficiencies in anti-money laundering, becoming the first penalty case of the financial inspection. In November of the same year, MaiCoin and BitoEx were also fined 1.5 million NTD each for violating the anti-money laundering law.
In May 2025, due to fraud scandals involving CoinThink Technology, a crisis of money laundering in Taiwan's virtual currency sector erupted, prompting the Financial Supervisory Commission to initiate the largest financial inspection in history, targeting 12 cryptocurrency platforms for inspection. In the same month, HzBit Hongzhu Exchange was also fined 1.52 million NTD for violating the anti-money laundering law. Looking at the penalty cases, violations of the anti-money laundering law have become a major compliance risk faced by virtual asset operators.
It is worth noting that Taiwan's three major mainstream exchanges, BitoEx, MaiCoin, and HOYA BIT, were fined by the Financial Supervisory Commission at different stages, with fines all being 1.5 million NTD. Although the details of the violations vary, the fines are consistent, indicating that the regulatory authority has established clear and consistent discretionary standards for major platforms, sending a strong signal: the Financial Supervisory Commission's regulatory intensity on large operators is no longer limited to advice, but is implemented through substantial penalties.
Regulatory trend analysis indicates that compliance standards continue to rise.
The simultaneous penalties on three exchanges indicate that the Financial Supervisory Commission's regulatory attitude towards the virtual asset industry is becoming stricter.
From the content of the penalties, the main issues are concentrated on incomplete internal control systems, inadequate customer review mechanisms, and insufficient functionalities of transaction monitoring systems.
Virtual asset operators face increasingly severe compliance challenges, requiring not only the establishment of comprehensive anti-money laundering mechanisms but also the investment of more resources to strengthen internal control systems.
From the perspective of regulatory trends, the Financial Supervisory Commission may further strengthen the frequency and severity of inspections against the virtual asset industry in the future. As regulatory requirements continue to rise, compliance costs for operators will inevitably increase, creating greater operational pressure for small and medium-sized exchanges with limited resources. The simultaneous penalties imposed on these three exchanges also serve as a warning to other virtual asset operators, reminding the industry to place greater emphasis on the implementation of anti-money laundering operations.
'Taiwan's 3 exchanges fined a total of 3.02 million! HOYA BIT, XREX, and Pioneer issue statements in response' was first published on 'Crypto City.'