WillItSurvive
Crypto and digital asset companies · Taiwan

ACE Exchange

ace.io ↗

Taiwan crypto exchange fighting for survival amid a founder fraud trial and new licensing rules.

Little protection left
Assessed 26 July 2026 · Evidence as of 26 July 2026
Not much stands between this business and its pressures.
On the recordSince 26 July 2026 · Checkable from Q1 2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: FSC publishes its approved VASP license list under the new Virtual Asset Service Act
The call

ACE Exchange operates in a market that blocks foreign entrants, but a fraud trial against its own founders and an unconfirmed license status leave its future unsettled.

ACE Exchange lets people in Taiwan buy and sell cryptocurrency. It has real advantages that foreign competitors can't easily match: it's registered with Taiwan's financial regulators, connected to Taiwan banks, and licensed locally. However, its founder and business partners are on trial for fraud involving tens of millions of dollars, which has badly damaged whether people trust the company. Competing Taiwan exchanges like BitoPro and XREX have already publicly announced they passed the new Taiwan crypto licensing exam that took effect in mid-2026, but ACE has not announced the same approval. If ACE fails to get on Taiwan's official approved exchange list when regulators publish it in early 2027, the company likely cannot operate legally.

Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. No AI-driven trading platform or agent has emerged as a direct threat to ACE's retail crypto exchange business. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: XREX. XREX already announced FSC approval under Taiwan's new VASP law in September 2025, while ACE's licensing status remains unconfirmed. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. ACE still holds existing TWD banking rails and local registration, letting it keep operating while the criminal case and new licensing rules play out.
What would change this call
FSC publishes approved VASP list (expected around Q1 2027). Shows whether ACE is licensed to keep operating or effectively shut out.
Verdict and sentencing in the fraud trial of David Pan, Lin Keng-hong, Wang Chen-huan. Determines whether current ACE management is legally tied to founder-era fraud.
ACE's CoinGecko Taiwan trading volume rank versus BitoPro and MAX over the next year. Indicates whether ACE is recovering market share or continuing to lose traders.
Key numbers
  • 32 people indicted including founder and ex-chairman (2024-04-26)
  • $24.5M to $32.3M in alleged fraud losses (2025-06-11)
  • Daily trading volume around $14M (2024-04-27)
Named risks
  • Pending criminal verdict against founder, partner, and ex-chairman could yield 20-year sentences. Severity: high
  • New VASP licensing regime under June 2026 Act could exclude ACE from operating if approval unconfirmed. Severity: high
  • Reputational damage from $24.5M to $32.3M fraud case undermines trust versus rivals. Severity: medium
  • No confirmed revenue or headcount data; all figures are aggregator-estimates, obscuring true financial health. Severity: medium
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
XREXlosing toXREX secured full FSC AML-registration approval September 2025; ACE's status unconfirmed
BitoProlosing toBitoPro claims ~90% combined market share and 800k+ users as of August 2025 (vendor-claimed)
MAX (MaiCoin)losing toMAX ranks alongside BitoPro at top of CoinGecko Taiwan volume rankings mid-2026; ACE absent
Questions people ask
Is ACE Exchange still operating in Taiwan in 2026?
Yes, ACE Exchange (ace.io) was still operating as of mid-2026, but its future is uncertain: Taiwan's Virtual Asset Service Act passed June 30, 2026, requires full FSC licensing, and ACE's approval status on the list of nine VASPs confirmed by September 2025 remains unconfirmed.
Is it safe to trade on ACE Exchange given the fraud case?
Caution is warranted: 32 individuals including founder David Pan and business partner Lin Keng-hong were indicted in April 2024 for fraud/money laundering tied to worthless tokens, with losses estimated at $24.5M to $32.3M and a verdict still pending as of June 2025.
Who owns ACE Exchange and is the founder still involved?
ACE Exchange is privately held by ACE Digital Innovations Co., Ltd. Founder David Pan reportedly stopped day-to-day involvement in 2022, before his January 2024 arrest; Wang Chen-huan served as chairman at the time of the April 2024 indictment.
How does ACE Exchange compare to BitoPro as a competitor?
ACE trails BitoPro significantly; BitoPro claims roughly 90 percent combined market share (BitoEX plus BitoPro) with over 800,000 users as of August 2025 (vendor-claimed), while ACE does not appear in CoinGecko's top Taiwan exchange rankings by volume.
Will ACE Exchange get licensed under Taiwan's new crypto law?
Unconfirmed as of July 2026. Taiwan's Virtual Asset Service Act passed June 30, 2026, giving AML-registered firms 12 months to apply and up to 21 months for approval; rival XREX secured its FSC approval in September 2025, but ACE's status was not found in available sources.
Could AI replace ACE Exchange's core business?
Unlikely to eliminate it outright: ACE's core moat is FSC AML registration and TWD banking rails, not AI-replicable technology, though customer support, KYC triage, and grid-trading bots are the parts of its stack most exposed to AI-driven compliance tools.
Timeline
  • 2026-07-05FSC sub-regulations for new VASP Act due Q1 2027; effective date still unset
  • 2026-06-30Taiwan Legislative Yuan passes Virtual Asset Service Act requiring full FSC licensing
  • 2025-09-24Rival XREX Taiwan secures full FSC AML-registration approval, one of nine approved VASPs
  • 2025-06-11Fraud case loss estimate set at $24.5M to $32.3M; criminal verdict still pending
  • 2024-04-2932 individuals formally indicted in ACE-linked fraud scheme
  • 2024-04-27Prosecutors recommend 20-year sentences for principal ACE suspects
  • 2024-04-26Taipei Times reports indictment of founder, partner, and chairman Wang Chen-huan
  • 2024-04-10Founder David Pan formally charged with $10.7M fraud
  • 2024-01-05David Pan arrested in Taiwan over alleged crypto fraud
  • 2018ACE Exchange founded by David Pan and Lin Keng-hong
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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