IMES Invites Expert to Discuss Money Laundering Risks and Global Governance Trends in the Virtual Asset Era
Date :
2025-11-26
Department :
International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development
【Article by IMES】
The International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development (IMES) at National Chengchi University (NCCU) invited Mr. Wei-Yuan Luo, Executive Secretary of Taiwan’s Anti-Money Laundering Office under the Executive Yuan, to deliver a keynote speech on November 21, 2025. Mr. Luo shared the latest developments in Taiwan’s anti–money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist/counter-proliferation financing efforts, as well as emerging money laundering risks and regulatory challenges in the age of virtual assets. The session was moderated by IMES Adjunct Assistant Professor Colin Cheng and attracted strong participation from NCCU students and international exchange students.
Amid the global efforts—including recent initiatives by the Trump administration—to regulate virtual assets and combat crypto-related fraud and money laundering, Mr. Luo’s talk offered timely and valuable insights. With extensive experience in both judicial practice and policy coordination, Mr. Luo currently serves as Executive Secretary of the AML Office and Chief Prosecutor at the Shilin District Prosecutors Office. He has long been involved in investigating financial fraud, money laundering, and illicit virtual-asset flows, and he represents Taiwan in engagements with the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). His deep understanding of international regulatory trends and Taiwan’s alignment efforts provided important context for the audience.
Mr. Luo highlighted how fraud and money-laundering syndicates increasingly exploit cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin ATMs, anonymous wallets, and cross-border exchanges to build criminal ecosystems characterized by speed, anonymity, and transnationality. He urged students to stay alert to investment scams, romance scams, and schemes that recruit young people as unwitting “money mules” or intermediaries.
He further outlined Taiwan’s policy priorities in strengthening virtual-asset oversight and AML frameworks, including enhanced compliance requirements for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), improved suspicious-transaction reporting and blockchain analytics, deeper public-private cooperation, and interagency preparation for the upcoming APG/FATF mutual evaluation. He emphasized that balancing financial innovation with market integrity and public safety is a crucial task for regulators in the digital-asset environment.
As financial technology evolves rapidly, new forms of financial crime continue to emerge. Developing talent who understand the intersection of technology, finance, law, and public policy has become essential. Unlike traditional business schools, NCCU’s IMES program equips students not only with knowledge of virtual assets, financial technology, and machine-learning applications in finance, but also with legal and policy perspectives necessary to address the regulatory challenges posed by fintech innovations.
The International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development (IMES) at National Chengchi University (NCCU) invited Mr. Wei-Yuan Luo, Executive Secretary of Taiwan’s Anti-Money Laundering Office under the Executive Yuan, to deliver a keynote speech on November 21, 2025. Mr. Luo shared the latest developments in Taiwan’s anti–money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist/counter-proliferation financing efforts, as well as emerging money laundering risks and regulatory challenges in the age of virtual assets. The session was moderated by IMES Adjunct Assistant Professor Colin Cheng and attracted strong participation from NCCU students and international exchange students.
Amid the global efforts—including recent initiatives by the Trump administration—to regulate virtual assets and combat crypto-related fraud and money laundering, Mr. Luo’s talk offered timely and valuable insights. With extensive experience in both judicial practice and policy coordination, Mr. Luo currently serves as Executive Secretary of the AML Office and Chief Prosecutor at the Shilin District Prosecutors Office. He has long been involved in investigating financial fraud, money laundering, and illicit virtual-asset flows, and he represents Taiwan in engagements with the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). His deep understanding of international regulatory trends and Taiwan’s alignment efforts provided important context for the audience.
Mr. Luo highlighted how fraud and money-laundering syndicates increasingly exploit cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin ATMs, anonymous wallets, and cross-border exchanges to build criminal ecosystems characterized by speed, anonymity, and transnationality. He urged students to stay alert to investment scams, romance scams, and schemes that recruit young people as unwitting “money mules” or intermediaries.
He further outlined Taiwan’s policy priorities in strengthening virtual-asset oversight and AML frameworks, including enhanced compliance requirements for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), improved suspicious-transaction reporting and blockchain analytics, deeper public-private cooperation, and interagency preparation for the upcoming APG/FATF mutual evaluation. He emphasized that balancing financial innovation with market integrity and public safety is a crucial task for regulators in the digital-asset environment.
As financial technology evolves rapidly, new forms of financial crime continue to emerge. Developing talent who understand the intersection of technology, finance, law, and public policy has become essential. Unlike traditional business schools, NCCU’s IMES program equips students not only with knowledge of virtual assets, financial technology, and machine-learning applications in finance, but also with legal and policy perspectives necessary to address the regulatory challenges posed by fintech innovations.