Crypto figure Brother Peter questions: Government auctions of cryptocurrencies for cash transactions, without KYC.
Recently, rumors circulated online that the Financial Supervisory Commission has prohibited cash transactions for cryptocurrencies (virtual assets), sparking heated discussions among Taiwan's crypto investors. After verifying with relevant units, this news originated from a letter issued by the Securities and Futures Bureau on May 7, stating that 'to ensure the transparency and traceability of funds,' virtual asset service providers are required to conduct transactions with clients in a manner that retains the trace of the funds.
However, a self-proclaimed senior crypto figure, Brother Peter, raised concerns with Taiwanese media (TVBS), believing that the judicial authority's auctions conducted transactions in cash, which might reduce to a place for fraud syndicates to launder money, and the media wrote it as: Exclusive / Buying and selling virtual currencies requires registration! The Ministry of Justice's Executive Yuan auctioning 'cash transactions' may be illegal.
Brother Peter pointed out to the media that the Financial Supervisory Commission has announced that unregistered legal cryptocurrency exchanges are not allowed to engage in cryptocurrency trading, yet the government can auction cryptocurrencies, questioning why the government does not entrust 'legal exchanges' for trading.
He further questioned whether the judicial authority's auctioning of cryptocurrencies, becoming the only place in the country where cash can be used to buy coins without KYC (Know Your Customer, the process of verifying customer identity), could become the best place for fraud syndicates to launder money.
The Ministry of Justice clarified: The auction process is legal and compliant.
In response, the Ministry of Justice's Executive Yuan explained to (China Times) media that the handling of the price change and auction of virtual assets entrusted by the prosecutor's office is conducted in accordance with relevant regulations of the (Criminal Procedure Law), (Administrative Execution Law), and (Compulsory Execution Law), and will also correspondingly verify the identity and funds of the buyer.
The Executive Yuan emphasizes that cash will not be accepted at the auction site, which completely contradicts the statement made by Brother Peter that 'as long as you have cash, you can buy cryptocurrency.'
Taking the recent entrusted auction process for cryptocurrencies handled by the Taichung branch as an example, after the bidder wins, the funds are transferred to the account designated by the prosecutor's office, and the financial institution handling the transfer will conduct KYC.
The auction process for cryptocurrencies is rigorous, with multiple layers of identity verification.
According to the auction documents announced by the Ministry of Justice's Executive Yuan on May 14, there are six main steps in the cryptocurrency auction.
The successful bidder shall remit the auction price via bank transfer or deposit cash into the designated account and sign the designated signing document for the transfer of cryptocurrency.
This office will provide the auction data to the entrusted authority, the Taichung District Prosecutor's Office.
The entrusted authority, the Taichung District Prosecutor's Office, requests the cryptocurrency custody authority to transfer the auctioned cryptocurrency to the designated account of the successful bidder.
The cryptocurrency custody authority will handle the transfer to the designated account.
The above transfer operation requires 10 to 20 working days.
The sender and receiver fees required for transferring the cryptocurrency to the designated account shall be borne by the successful bidder.
In fact, the aforementioned auction document information is also quite accessible; as long as you visit the Ministry of Justice's Executive Yuan auction announcement query system, select the designated date range and auction items, you can find the data for this cryptocurrency auction.
Click here to enter: 5/14 Auction Announcement Query System for Cryptocurrency Auction Data.
The media reported without verification, which may mislead the public.
From the auction documents of the Executive Yuan, (TVBS) significantly quoted concerns from crypto figure Brother Peter in their report but failed to adequately verify the relevant information and did not consult the Executive Yuan to verify the actual operation of the auction process, leading to discrepancies between the report's content and the facts, which may mislead the public into misunderstanding the law enforcement procedures of government agencies, increasing unnecessary confrontation between the public and the government.
The media should adhere to professional journalistic ethics and, for significant issues involving legal procedures and government operations, should maintain a spirit of verification to avoid becoming a mouthpiece for individual biased viewpoints.
This article is a collaborative reprint from: Crypto City.
