Crypto wave takes Vietnam by storm, and UOB’s big ASEAN bet

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Hello there,

About five years ago, a friend told me he had gotten into Ethereum. Over a coffee, he geeked out about the cryptocurrency’s potential to power “smart contracts” – in certificates of education, for example.

That was 2017 – the “early” days of cryptomania, the year CryptoKitties was launched, a few months before the crypto winter of 2018, and when Dogecoin was still a joke. (Depending on which way you lean, it might still be.)

One wishes they got into Ethereum in 2017. (This is not investment advice.) / Photo credit: Coinbase

Five years on, the metaverse, NFTs, decentralization, and Web3 have become familiar to every man on the street, regardless of whether most people truly understand what these terms mean or believe in their potential.

Or should I say, every boy on the street – since crypto investors are, in fact, getting younger.

Gen Z, which is made up of school children and teenagers, is getting onboard the crypto train. Perhaps they’re driven by Covid-induced boredom (à la Gamestop), access to play-to-earn games, the desperation to make a quick buck, or their general openness to new tech and risk taking.

Not being old enough to invest themselves, some Gen Zs in Vietnam are borrowing money from their parents to put into cryptocurrency.

In fact, the country has more people who own digital coins than those with retail stock brokerage accounts. Nearly 6 million people – or about 6% of Vietnam’s population – own cryptocurrencies, placing the country among the top five in the world for crypto adoption.

What’s behind Vietnam’s crypto rush, and could rapid adoption propel the country’s transformation into the next global blockchain hub? My colleague, Huong, has the answers in this week’s Big Story.

Also, we analyze what United Overseas Bank’s (UOB) US$3.6 billion acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking business in four ASEAN markets means for the Singapore-based lender’s digital banking endeavor and regional ambitions. Read on to find out.

And what about my friend, you ask? I hope he’s still holding on to that Ethereum.

— Melissa