Is crypto legal in Vietnam? Rules & regulation (2026)

Vietnam's Ministry of Finance issued Decision No. 96/QĐ-BTC, operationalising the licensing regime for crypto asset trading platforms: step-by-step dossier procedures, governance standards, and a VND 10,000 billion (~USD 400 million) minimum paid-up capital requirement. The State Securities Commission immediately began accepting applications, marking the first time a formal licensing pathway was open to operators.

Vietnam's landmark Law on Digital Technology Industry (passed June 2025) took effect, formally classifying digital assets, including crypto assets, as a category of property under the Civil Code, enabling legal ownership, transfer, and inheritance. Crypto assets remain non-legal-tender and may not be used as payment for goods and services.

The Government issued Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP establishing a controlled five-year pilot programme (2025-2030) for the issuance, trading, and supervision of crypto assets. Key rules: only Vietnamese-incorporated enterprises may issue virtual assets; all transactions must settle in VND; exchanges must have at least 65% institutional ownership with 35% held by licensed financial institutions.

The 15th National Assembly passed the Law on Digital Technology Industry (441 of 445 deputies in favour), the first statute anywhere to be dedicated to the digital tech sector. The law provides the first statutory definition of crypto assets as a sub-class of digital assets and mandates implementing regulations, ending more than a decade of legal ambiguity.

The Financial Action Task Force added Vietnam to its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, citing 17 strategic AML/CFT deficiencies. Among the gaps explicitly flagged: the absence of any licensing or supervision regime for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), accelerating domestic pressure to pass the Digital Technology Industry Law.

The National Assembly enacted Law No. 14/2022/QH15, a significant AML/CFT reform effective March 1, 2023. Notably, an earlier draft had proposed classifying virtual asset service providers as reporting entities, but this provision was dropped from the final text, leaving a VASP regulatory gap that FATF subsequently flagged.

Official Letter No. 4486/UBCK-GSDC required all public companies, securities firms, fund managers, and securities investment funds to refrain from any offering, trading, or brokerage of virtual currencies. This extended the payment-layer ban to the entire licensed securities sector and reinforced the grey-zone status of crypto trading.

The SBV declared Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies not to be lawful means of payment and prohibited their issuance, supply, or use as payment instruments, with fines of VND 150-200 million for violations taking effect on 1 January 2018. Ownership and trading were not explicitly addressed, creating the legal grey zone that persisted for years.

Decision 1255/QĐ-TTg commissioned a multi-ministry scheme to develop a comprehensive legal framework for virtual assets, digital currencies, and virtual currencies, with deadlines running through 2019 for amendments to banking, justice, tax, and criminal laws. Implementation lagged significantly, but the decision signalled official recognition of a regulatory gap.

The SBV issued its inaugural public statement on Bitcoin, defining it as a peer-to-peer digital currency not issued by any government or financial institution, and warning of risks including money laundering, security vulnerabilities, and extreme price volatility. This was Vietnam's first regulatory acknowledgement of cryptocurrency and established the initial cautious posture that governed policy for the next decade.