Vietnam Passes Crypto-Asset Anti-Money Laundering Legislation

The National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam has passed amendments to three laws governing banking and finance. The changes add provisions on suspicious indicators related to crypto assets, providing a legal basis for identifying, assessing, and controlling money-laundering risks in the sector.

Under the amended Law on Anti-Money Laundering, reporting entities must report suspicious transactions to the State Bank of Vietnam when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that assets involved in a transaction are proceeds of crime. The law also sets out 15 suspicious indicators in the crypto-asset sector, including multiple high-value transactions within a short period without a clear business purpose and customers accessing crypto-asset service providers through tools that allow them to conceal their identity or Internet Protocol address.

The amendments to the Law on Anti-Money Laundering also clarify the responsibilities of government agencies in anti-money-laundering activities. The Government Inspectorate is responsible for inspecting anti-money-laundering activities of reporting entities under the state management of ministries that do not have ministerial inspectorates, except for matters under the inspection authority of the Ministry of Finance.