Vietnam has approved a five-year pilot for cryptocurrency trading, opening a tightly controlled gateway into a market that has grown rapidly without formal rules.
The resolution allows only Vietnamese companies to operate platforms. Additionally, it requires all issuance, trading and payments of crypto assets to be settled in the local dong, according to a government announcement Tuesday.
Last year, Vietnam ranked fifth in a global adoption index by Chainalysis. An estimated 17m Vietnamese own digital assets, with their combined holdings valued at more than $100b.
The rules set a high bar for participation. To begin with, any exchange provider must hold at least 10 trillion dong, about US$379m, in capital. In addition, institutional investors must contribute no less than 65%. Finally, foreign ownership in trading platforms is capped at 49%.
By July, authorities had rolled out NDAChain, a permissioned Layer 1 blockchain designed to anchor Vietnam’s national digital infrastructure. The system is operated by the Ministry of Public Security’s Data Innovation and Exploitation Center and was developed with the National Data Association.
Officials see the move as part of a broader effort to manage the country’s fast-expanding digital economy. Earlier in June, the National Assembly passed the Law on Digital Technology Industry. For the first time, the law defines, classifies, and sets out rules for managing digital assets.
