Vietnam Maintains Crypto Regulations as of September 1, No Licence Yet Granted

Vietnam will introduce new rules for crypto market violations from 1 September, but has so far not granted a licence to any exchange. Five companies have passed the first selection round, but must still meet strict security requirements and inject at least $383 million in capital. As long as there is no licensed provider, Vietnamese investors are not yet obliged to trade via licensed platforms.

In brief:

• Vietnam’s new penalty regulations for the crypto market take effect on 1 September.
• Five companies passed the first assessment round, but no licence has yet been granted.
• Investors will only be obliged to trade via licensed platforms six months after the first licence is issued.

Five companies pass first round, but licence is still pending

As Wu Blockchain reports, five companies have passed the first assessment round for a Vietnamese crypto exchange licence. They must then meet level 4 security requirements for information systems and contribute at least 10 trillion Vietnamese dong, equivalent to about $383 million, in capital.

The Vietnamese government issued Decree No. 284/2026/ND-CP on 16 July on administrative fines for violations involving crypto and the market. That decree raises questions about fines of 30 to 50 million dong for domestic investors who trade via unlicensed platforms.

Fines do not yet apply to ordinary investors

According to Quy, a spokesperson involved in the regulation, investors will not automatically be fined from 1 September. Resolution 05 stipulates that domestic investors will only be required to trade via licensed providers six months after the Ministry of Finance has granted the first licence.

Nguyen The Minh, director of the investment banking division at An Binh Securities, says licensed exchanges offer Vietnamese investors a more official, transparent and secure way to trade crypto. However, as long as no first licence has been granted, that protection will remain absent in practice.