Crypto Traded for You in a Friend's Name: Reports and Handover Under a Taiwan Mandate

What did my friend buy with my money, and what is left? If the arrangement is a mandate under Taiwan's Civil Code, Article 540 requires a progress report while the affair is being handled and a clear report of its whole course when the relationship ends. Article 541 requires handover of money received through handling the mandate and transfer of rights acquired in the mandatary's name for the principal.

An American engineer working in Hsinchu sends NT$800,000 to a Taiwanese acquaintance in two transfers (an invented example). Both sign a short agreement: the acquaintance will buy and sell virtual assets with the money on the engineer's behalf. The trading runs through an exchange account in the acquaintance's own name. For a few weeks, screenshots of the balance arrive. Then nothing.

For these duties to apply, Taiwan law must govern the agreement, and the parties must have agreed to a mandate under Article 528. The signed terms and their messages are where to start.

Whether it is a mandate depends on what was agreed

Article 528 of the Civil Code defines a mandate as a contract in which the parties agree that one entrusts an affair to the other and the other agrees to handle it. A bank transfer shows that money moved to the acquaintance. It does not, on its own, show that the acquaintance accepted an assignment to trade for the engineer. A long friendship does not establish that agreement either.

Start with the signed terms: whose money the acquaintance would trade, what they agreed to trade and what they said about reporting results. The transfer records show dates, amounts and the receiving account. Messages exchanged around the transfers, along with the screenshots the acquaintance sent, help show what both parties agreed to.

If the transfer was a loan, or the dispute is with the exchange over a blocked withdrawal, those are separate questions covered in private lending in Taiwan and When a Taiwan Crypto Platform Blocks Your Withdrawal.

Perhaps the agreement is short: one line about trading on the engineer's behalf, two signatures, nothing about reporting. If the arrangement is a mandate, Article 540 requires reports even where the signed agreement says nothing about reporting. Under Article 541, paragraph 1, the mandatary must hand over money, things and fruits received through handling the mandate, even if the agreement does not address that duty.

Reports while the trading goes on, and at the end

Does the engineer have to wait until the trading stops? No. Under the first clause of Article 540, the mandatary (受任人) must report the progress of the mandated affair to the principal (委任人). If the arrangement is a mandate, the acquaintance owes progress reports while the trading is still running.

When the mandate relationship ends, the second clause of Article 540 requires a clear report of its whole course (顛末). Until then, the principal may ask how the trading is progressing. The request should identify which report is sought.

Reporting under Article 540 does not itself give the engineer a login to the acquaintance's exchange account or every trade record in a set format. The engineer can ask when the transferred money reached the exchange account, what was bought and sold, and what remains. The precise scope of the report still depends on the agreement and the records.

A single screenshot in reply: is that the report? Not necessarily. A screenshot shows a balance at one moment. It does not show the trades that led there. When the mandate ends, Article 540 calls for a clear report of the whole course, and the engineer can ask for that course specifically.

Remaining NT$, and rights acquired in the acquaintance's name

Under Article 541, paragraph 1, the mandatary must hand over to the principal the money, things (物品) and fruits (孳息) received through handling the mandated affair. Sale proceeds paid into the acquaintance's exchange or bank account, or a New Taiwan dollar balance left in the account used for the trades, must be handed over if they were received through handling the mandate. The agreement and transaction records can help trace that balance to the engineer's trading arrangement.

The account bears the acquaintance's name. Under Article 541, paragraph 2, the mandatary must transfer rights acquired in their own name for the principal. The account name alone does not answer which rights, if any, were acquired for the engineer. The agreement and trade records matter. A demand can separate money received through handling the mandate under paragraph 1 from rights acquired in the acquaintance's name for the engineer under paragraph 2.

Rights acquired for the principal in the mandatary's name must be transferred under Article 541, paragraph 2. The provision does not itself give the engineer control of the acquaintance's exchange account.

A report and a handover do not undo a market loss

Prices may have fallen. What then? Articles 540 and 541 provide for reports, for handing over what was received through handling the mandate, and for transferring rights acquired in the mandatary's name for the principal. Neither article guarantees recovery of the engineer's original NT$800,000 after a market loss. Whether the acquaintance owes damages for the way the mandate was handled needs separate analysis.

Loss does not erase the reporting duty. If this is a mandate, Article 540 requires a progress report while the affair is being handled and a clear report of its whole course when the mandate relationship ends, regardless of the trading result.

With an agreed mandate, the engineer can write about two matters: a progress report while the mandate continues, or a clear report of its whole course when the relationship ends; and handover of money received through handling that mandate and transfer of any rights acquired in the acquaintance's name for the engineer (Articles 540 and 541).

Right now the engineer holds one signed agreement, two transfer receipts and a few screenshots. The trade history sits with the acquaintance. Both requests start from those papers.

What a Taiwan lawyer can do in this situation

A Taiwan lawyer can read the signed agreement, bank transfer records, screenshots and messages together to assess whether the parties made a mandate under Article 528. If they did, the lawyer can draft and send a demand for the report due at the relevant stage under Article 540, for handover of money received through handling the mandate under Article 541, paragraph 1, and for transfer of any rights acquired in the acquaintance's name for the engineer under paragraph 2. The lawyer can then negotiate or, if needed, frame a civil claim from the actual records and represent the engineer in court. Chinese-language messages are part of those records. A lawyer cannot promise recovery of a market loss or access to the acquaintance's exchange account.

You can email Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw to arrange a consultation with an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei. The office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan. Start with the signed agreement, the two transfer receipts and the screenshots your friend sent.

Official sources

• Civil Code (民法), Article 528, Article 540, Article 541, full text; current text checked October 16, 2026