State Bank of Vietnam Crypto Policy and Stance in 2025: What You Need to Know

For years, Vietnam’s central bank made it clear: no crypto payments, no bank involvement, no gray zones. But in 2025, everything changed. The State Bank of Vietnam didn’t just soften its stance-it rewrote the rules. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are now legal, but not in the way most people expect. They’re not money. They’re not payments. They’re virtual assets-something you can own, trade, and inherit, but only under strict government control.

From Ban to Bureaucracy: How Vietnam’s Crypto Rules Changed

In 2024, using Bitcoin to buy coffee in Hanoi could get you fined. Financial institutions were banned from touching any crypto-related transaction. The State Bank of Vietnam treated digital assets like a dangerous experiment, not a financial tool. That changed in June 2025 with the passage of the Law on Digital Technology Industry. For the first time, Vietnam officially recognized cryptocurrencies as property. Not currency. Not payment. Property. That shift matters. It means if you hold Bitcoin, the law now protects your right to own it, pass it to your heirs, or sell it-within limits.

But the State Bank didn’t open the floodgates. Instead, it built a cage with golden bars. The new framework, outlined in Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP, doesn’t allow free trading. It doesn’t let foreign exchanges operate. It doesn’t even let you trade Bitcoin for US dollars. Everything must be done in Vietnamese dong. And only five companies in the entire country will ever be allowed to run crypto exchanges.

The Five-Licence Rule: Who Can Trade Crypto in Vietnam?

If you want to run a crypto exchange in Vietnam today, you need to meet impossible-sounding requirements. First, you need at least 10 trillion Vietnamese dong in capital-that’s about $379 million. Not in assets. Not in revenue. Actual cash on hand. Second, you need at least two shareholders, and they can’t just be random investors. They must come from established financial institutions: commercial banks, securities firms, insurance companies, fund managers, or major tech enterprises. And those shareholders? They need to have been profitable for two years straight before even applying.

The State Bank isn’t just filtering out small players. It’s filtering out the entire global crypto industry. Binance, Coinbase, Kraken-none of them qualify. Only Vietnamese-owned and Vietnamese-controlled companies can apply. Even then, they’ll be limited to five licenses total. As of October 2025, not a single company has submitted an application. Why? Because the bar is so high, and the risks so unclear, that even local banks are holding back.

Trading Rules: Only Vietnamese Dong, Only Five Platforms

Here’s the catch: if you’re a Vietnamese citizen and you want to trade crypto, you can’t use Binance P2P anymore-not legally. The new law says all trades must happen on one of the five licensed exchanges, and all trades must be in Vietnamese dong. No USDT. No BTC/USD pairs. No stablecoins tied to foreign currencies. The only stablecoin allowed is one backed by real assets like gold or real estate, and even then, only if issued by a Vietnamese company.

Foreign investors? They can’t trade directly. They have to go through Ministry of Finance-approved Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs). These aren’t exchanges. They’re intermediaries with heavy reporting requirements. Think of them as gatekeepers who monitor every dollar that flows in and out. This structure gives the State Bank full visibility into who’s buying crypto and how much.

NDAChain: Vietnam’s Secret Crypto Infrastructure

While the public focus is on exchanges, the State Bank quietly launched something bigger: NDAChain. This isn’t a public blockchain like Ethereum. It’s a government-controlled, permissioned network. Think of it as Vietnam’s internal blockchain for official use. Banks can tokenize government bonds. Companies can track carbon credits. Insurance firms can issue digital policies. All transactions are recorded, visible to regulators, and impossible to alter.

NDAChain is the real story behind Vietnam’s crypto policy. The State Bank isn’t trying to compete with Bitcoin. It’s trying to control the future of digital value. By building its own system, it ensures that even as citizens trade crypto on licensed exchanges, the backbone of the financial system remains under state control. It’s a hybrid model: public access to crypto, private control over infrastructure.

Why Is Vietnam’s Approach So Strict?

Vietnam ranks fourth in the world for crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis. Over 20% of its tech-savvy population owns digital assets. Yet, most of that trading happens informally-through P2P apps, offshore exchanges, and cash deals. The State Bank knows this. It knows it can’t stop people from buying Bitcoin. So instead of fighting it, it’s trying to channel it.

The goal? Three things: tax revenue, investor protection, and economic control. By forcing trades into licensed platforms, the government can track capital flows and collect taxes. By requiring high capital and strict ownership rules, it prevents foreign speculators from destabilizing the local market. And by banning stablecoins backed by foreign currencies, it protects the Vietnamese dong from being undermined.

Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha has said the central bank expects crypto adoption to drive 20% credit growth in 2025. That’s not because people are spending Bitcoin-it’s because regulated crypto trading will unlock new forms of collateral, attract institutional investors, and push banks to innovate.

What’s Missing? The Real Problem With Vietnam’s Plan

The rules look smart on paper. But they’re not working yet. No companies have applied for licenses. Why? Because the cost is too high, the timeline is too long, and the rewards are too uncertain. A $379 million capital requirement isn’t just a barrier-it’s a wall. Even Vietnam’s biggest banks don’t have that kind of capital sitting idle.

Meanwhile, the informal market keeps growing. People still use Binance P2P. They still buy USDT with cash. They still send crypto abroad. The State Bank can regulate exchanges, but it can’t regulate people. And as long as the legal system doesn’t offer a better, easier alternative, the underground market will thrive.

There’s also a risk of isolation. Singapore and the Philippines are moving fast to attract global crypto firms. Vietnam is building a fortress. That might protect its economy-but it could also lock out innovation, talent, and investment.

What’s Next? The Five-Year Pilot

The State Bank calls this a five-year pilot. That means everything could change. If no one applies for licenses, the rules might be relaxed. If trading volumes explode on the few platforms that do launch, the government might open more licenses. If NDAChain proves useful for bonds or insurance, the state might expand it.

For now, Vietnam’s crypto policy is a balancing act. It’s not pro-crypto. It’s not anti-crypto. It’s control-crypto. The government wants to benefit from digital assets without losing power over them. Whether that’s sustainable depends on whether Vietnamese firms can meet the impossible standards-and whether people are willing to trade in a system that’s designed to be slow, expensive, and tightly watched.

For now, if you’re in Vietnam and you want to trade crypto, you have two choices: play by the government’s rules on a platform that doesn’t exist yet, or trade outside the system-where the rules don’t apply, but the risks do.