Taiwan's financial watchdog just greenlit a game plan for stablecoin rollout—target date sits somewhere in late 2026. Here's what's actually happening on the ground.

The Virtual Assets Service Act got the nod from regulators, and they're putting traditional banks in the driver's seat for initial token launches. No wild west stuff here: every coin needs full reserve backing, and custody has to stay domestic. Basically, if you're issuing a stablecoin in this market, your collateral better match 1:1 and your vault can't be offshore.

The elephant in the room? Nobody's locked down which currency this thing pegs to yet. It's a toss-up between the Taiwan dollar and the greenback, with the central bank still working through the implications. That decision alone could reshape how these digital assets flow in the region—dollar peg means easier cross-border movement, local currency peg keeps things tighter to the domestic economy.

What's clear: banks get first crack at issuance, regulators want ironclad reserve structures, and the custody framework stays within territorial control. The peg decision will likely drop closer to launch as policymakers gauge market appetite and macro conditions. Worth watching how this plays out against other APAC regulatory approaches.