A Country That Once Banned, Now Builds
Key Highlights
• Vietnam launches a five-year pilot allowing licensed crypto trading in Vietnamese dong, with strict capital and ownership rules.
• Citizens have six months to shift from underground exchanges or face an outright ban.
Paradisers! What happens when one of the world’s largest underground crypto markets suddenly gets dragged into the daylight? Vietnam just did it. The government has approved its first-ever crypto trading pilot, a five-year scheme that will transform how 17 million Vietnamese holders, sitting on an estimated $100 billion in assets operate.
But the devil is in the dong. Only domestically registered companies can run these platforms, every trade must settle in Vietnamese currency, and foreign ownership is capped at 49%. If you thought Binance was going to stroll in with a smile, think again.
A Billion-Dollar Underground, Forced to Surface
For years, Vietnam has ranked near the top in crypto adoption while pretending it didn’t exist. That duality ends now. Once the first licenses are issued, citizens and foreign investors get a six-month grace period to move to approved exchanges. After that, unlicensed platforms become illegal. Penalties aren’t yet detailed, but the subtext is clear: the government’s patience with shadow markets has expired.
The entry price is designed to keep the small fry out. Launching an exchange will require 10 trillion dong (about $379 million) in capital, two-thirds of it from institutions. Think of it less as a pilot program and more as a high-stakes audition for who gets to dominate Southeast Asia’s next great regulated market.
Global Partnerships Already in Play
Vietnam isn’t walking this path alone. Just weeks ago, Military Bank inked a deal with Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s Upbit, to build a local exchange. That deal signals Hanoi’s ambitions: blend domestic control with international expertise, and perhaps turn Danang or Ho Chi Minh City into Asia’s next fintech sandbox.
What It Means for Crypto’s Next Act
Despite the breakthrough, Bitcoin and other cryptos won’t be legal tender. But the pilot does something more strategic: it forces a nation’s worth of crypto capital into a controlled pipeline, potentially creating one of the most powerful regulated digital asset hubs outside the U.S. or EU.
Vietnam’s message is blunt: the wild west is over, adapt or vanish. For a country that once banned mining and warned against crypto entirely, this pivot is nothing short of historic, and potentially destabilizing if the underground market resists.
Final Word
When governments flip like this, markets don’t just react, they panic, speculate, and reposition. Vietnam’s $100 billion crypto underground has just been given a countdown clock.
For those tracking where this leads next from price reactions to regulatory spillovers, our MCP streams analyst will reveal its market impact. MCP News Private members will get the forward-looking playbook for just $3 a month. That’s cheaper than a bowl of phở in Ho Chi Minh City, and infinitely more nourishing for your portfolio.
