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

According to reports, among the banks rumored to be the first to issue 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’ve 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” that allows users to earn crypto rewards when using their card. 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 working 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’s TWDT (Taiwan Dollar Token) was hailed as Taiwan’s first TWD stablecoin, praised by tech KOLs at the time. But due to a 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 applications.

The FSC deputy chair 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—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’s stablecoin ready for 2026? According to the draft regulations, stablecoin issuers must maintain fiat reserves and cannot pay interest or rewards. This poses a challenge to banks’ profit models. But judging by the FSC’s attitude and the active deployment of these crypto banks, it seems this time is more prepared than Taiwan’s 2018 TWDT. The demand for supply chain payments could truly create a market for new TWD stablecoins, and traditional financial institutions can provide seamless integration between fiat and stablecoins. This story is definitely worth watching.