Web 3 enterprises are slightly booming in Taiwan, but surprisingly these businesses are not officially registered in the country, but in Singapore.
Why? Because businessmen need a considerable degree of patience in order to complete Taiwan’s business registration procedure, which might take many months. If all goes according to plan, the registration should be completed in two to six months.
Registering in Singapore
In Singapore, by comparison, the procedure takes just 72 hours and occasionally less than a day. As a result, it’s natural why a large number of cryptocurrency firms – particularly those situated in Asia – pick Singapore.
If your sole asset is code and your team is scattered, you may be selective about which jurisdiction to register in. Why would you want to deal with Taiwan’s sclerotic bureaucracy when you can go somewhere with a feeling of urgency?
But Singapore’s authorities appear to be growing uneasy with the scope of this agreement. Hundreds of cryptocurrency enterprises are registered there but have no tangible links to the city-state and so escape regulatory oversight.
Required to obtain license
Singapore’s government is taking steps to rectify this. Earlier this week, the Parliament enacted a bill requiring crypto enterprises established in the city-state but solely conducting business outside to obtain a license, tying them to the island’s authorities.
There was no explanation of why this is happening in the reporting on the topic, and no mention of a specific incident that precipitated this choice.
As much as the crypto business enjoys talking about regulatory nomadism, there are a number of reasons why this makes regulators uneasy. If a corporation has no physical links to a region other than the paper, regulators have no leverage to compel the company to obey their directions. There are no raidable offices or assets to take. Money laundering and financing of terrorism come into play.