Taiwan's stablecoin battle truly heats up. Recently, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: as the draft Virtual Asset Service Act passes through the Executive Yuan, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) also begins actively drafting related subsidiary laws. The result is that a bunch of cryptocurrency banks are eager to issue their own stablecoins.

According to reports, among the banks potentially leading the issuance of stablecoins, CTBC Bank, Cathay United Bank, Taishin International Bank, KGI Bank, Union Bank, and Taipei Fubon Bank are all listed. Their strategic layouts show they have been preparing for this day for a while. CTBC Bank has already received FSC approval to pilot virtual asset custody services, focusing on cold wallet management for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cathay United Bank also obtained pilot qualification and participated in the FSC’s RWA tokenization working group. Taishin Bank recently partnered with Taiwan Exchange Hoya Bit to offer New Taiwan Dollar trust services. KGI Bank is even more aggressive, directly collaborating with legitimate trading platforms like MaiCoin and BitoEx, and has launched the “KGI Coin Enjoy Card” allowing users to earn crypto rewards through card transactions. Union Bank also secured pilot qualification and took part in MaiCoin’s equity. Fubon Bank, meanwhile, established TWEX Taiwan Digital Asset Exchange through Taiwan Mobile.

Interestingly, besides these six, First Bank and Hua Nan Bank have also expressed strong interest in stablecoins. Yushan Financial Holdings’ chairman even openly stated they will not miss out on this market. Additionally, blockchain infrastructure provider Capital Layer is collaborating with Dunya Technology, indicating that the entire financial system seems to be positioning itself for stablecoins.

However, looking back, Taiwan has taken a winding path. In 2018, E.SUN Bank launched TWDT, considered Taiwan’s first TWD stablecoin, which was highly praised by tech KOLs at the time. But due to lack of market demand and practical use cases, it was eventually delisted from exchanges and quietly phased out. That failure experience likely made these current crypto banks more cautious about building real-world application scenarios.

The FSC Deputy Chairperson revealed that some import-export traders are already using stablecoins for settlement. As these traders accumulate more stablecoins, they will naturally seek to connect with traditional financial institutions. This is the true value of stablecoins—the supply chain payments. The purpose of banks issuing stablecoins is essentially to seize the opportunities in blockchain finance and RWA tokenization.

The current question is: is Taiwan truly ready for stablecoins in 2026? According to the draft regulations, stablecoin issuers must maintain fiat reserves and cannot issue interest or rewards. This indeed tests banks’ profit models. But judging by the FSC’s attitude and the active layouts of these crypto banks, it feels like this time, compared to 2018’s TWDT, they are better prepared. The demand for supply chain payments could genuinely foster a new market for TWD stablecoins, and traditional financial institutions can provide seamless integration between fiat and stablecoins. This story is worth ongoing attention.