Overview
- Vietnam’s State Securities Commission reported that five applicants passed an initial assessment for exchange licences but no licence has yet been issued, so none of the firms may operate an exchange.
- Decree No. 284, which creates penalties for unlicensed crypto services, becomes effective on Sept. 1 but fines on domestic traders will not start until six months after the first Ministry of Finance licence is granted.
- Applicants must meet high entry requirements including VND 10 trillion (about $383 million) in contributed charter capital, Level 4 information-system security certification, custody and AML systems, and a 49% cap on foreign ownership.
- The pilot requires tokenized assets to be issued by Vietnamese entities, backed by real-world assets, settled in Vietnamese Dong, and it initially gives foreign investors priority access before domestic retail trading is required.
- Observers say the rules formalize digital assets as property and aim to move Vietnam’s large crypto user base into regulated channels, with key next steps being the Ministry of Finance’s first licensing decisions and official notices from regulators.