Vietnam opens pilot licensing for crypto exchanges

TLDR

Vietnam has begun a five-year pilot to license crypto exchanges, shifting its large grey-market crypto activity into a tightly regulated regime.

1. Vietnams State Securities Commission has opened a licensing window for digital asset trading platforms under a new five-year pilot framework.
2. Requirements are extremely strict, favoring large domestic banks and securities firms over startups or foreign exchanges.
3. No platform is licensed yet, so users should expect a gradual shift from offshore exchanges to a small number of heavily regulated local venues.

Deep Dive

1. Five-Year Pilot And New Legal Framework

Vietnam has formally started a pilot regime for regulated crypto exchanges, with the State Securities Commission now accepting license applications for digital asset trading platforms under Decision No. 96 and Government Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP. Articles from outlets such as CoinJournal and Cointelegraph describe this as the operational start of a five-year crypto market pilot running under securities regulators, not the central bank, which keeps crypto outside the payments system while bringing trading under capital markets oversight.

The move builds on the Law on the Digital Technology Industry, effective 1 January 2026, which for the first time defines digital and crypto assets as property in Vietnamese law, but explicitly excludes them from legal tender or payment use. This combination gives legal status to tokens while keeping day to day payments in fiat.

2. High Bar For Licensed Exchanges

Vietnams framework is among the most restrictive in Asia. Applicants must be Vietnamese entities, have minimum paid-in capital of about 10 trillion dong, roughly 380 to 400 million dollars, and are subject to a 49 percent foreign ownership cap, with at least 65 percent of capital held by institutional shareholders such as banks and securities firms. Reports also highlight strict experience and staffing rules for executives, cybersecurity and risk teams, and a ban on issuing assets backed by fiat or securities inside the pilot.

This effectively narrows eligibility to large domestic financial institutions and consortia, marginalizing small local startups and limiting direct entry by global exchanges. Compared with Hong Kong or Singapore, capital thresholds are far higher while the number of likely licensees is smaller.

3. What To Watch In Vietnam And The Region

So far, no exchange has been approved under the new regime, though press reports say around 10 banks and securities firms, including SSI Securities and VIX Securities, are preparing applications and building infrastructure in partnership with firms like Tether, U2U Network, and Dunamu (Upbit). Until licenses are granted and platforms launch, Vietnamese users will likely continue relying on offshore exchanges and informal channels.

Regionally, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore are moving in parallel with ETF and exchange frameworks, but with different trade offs on capital requirements and foreign participation. Vietnams path could make it a more closed but institutionally robust hub if domestic venues eventually match global platforms on liquidity and product range.

Conclusion

Vietnams pilot licensing program marks a decisive shift from an unregulated, high adoption environment to a tightly controlled, institution-led crypto market. For crypto users and builders, the key variables now are how many domestic exchanges actually clear the high bar, how competitive they become against offshore platforms, and whether regulators later relax thresholds once the initial risk is under control.