🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Vietnam is building a financial fortress, not an open crypto market

• Vietnam sets a minimum capital requirement of about US$380 million, among the highest globally, compared with S$100,000 (US$78,000) to S$250,000 (US$196,000) in Singapore 1.
• Licensed crypto firms must keep foreign ownership at 49% or less. Institutions must contribute at least 65% of capital, keeping control at home 2.
• Operators must meet Level 4 information security standards under Vietnam’s cybersecurity rules. A breach could cause “particularly serious harm” to public interests, social order, or national security. Firms also need an appraisal document from the Ministry of Public Security for the Level 4 information system security 2.

Vietnam is creating a walled garden for the pilot crypto-asset market and plans to move trading onshore

• The pilot framework sits alongside the offshore market used by an estimated 21.2 million Vietnamese adults who transact over US$100 billion a year 3.
• Under Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP, crypto-asset offering, issuance, trading, and payment must use Vietnamese dong 2. Offerings and issuances must rest on real underlying assets 2. Securities and fiat currencies are excluded 2. New issuances are limited to foreign investors 2.
• Six months after the first crypto-asset service provider gets a license, domestic investors who trade outside licensed providers may face administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution 2. The rule steers local activity into the state-supervised system 2.