Vietnam Seeks to Leapfrog with Modern Tokenization Framework

Vietnam's digital asset market is in a formative but promising phase. The country has strong grassroots adoption, a young technical developer base, and a government that is increasingly open to structured experimentation through its pilot crypto asset framework and Vietnam International Financial Center (VIFC) initiatives.

According to Mr. Jeffrey Tchui, Executive Director and Head of APAC at Hashgraph and Executive Director of Web3 Harbour, the country's biggest RWA advantage is its ability to build a modern tokenization framework without legacy constraints.

Tchui believes that Vietnam can design RWAs rails that are digitally native, interoperable, and aligned with global standards from Day 1, similar to the success seen in the UAE but at scale. He also emphasizes the importance of building a licensing regime that regulates activities such as custody, exchange, tokenization, stablecoin issuance, and staking rather than trying to define every type of token upfront.

RWAs can only be successful if the real-world registries supporting them are fully digitalized, which is necessary to enable automation required by smart contracts governing tokenized assets based on reliable data feeds. Tchui suggests that RWA projects related to new energy, electrification, or data center assets are a good first step toward realizing the promise of RWAs.

Tokenizing commodities such as agricultural products, minerals, and production-related assets would create an entirely new financing channel for intermediaries instead of relying on bank credit or expensive mezzanine financing. Another area with significant potential is strategic resources, particularly rare earths, which are increasingly critical to industries such as semiconductors, robotics, medical technology, defense, and new energy.

Tchui highlights the importance of institutional-grade use cases, including tokenized bonds, RWAs, carbon credits, supply chain assets, and regulated stablecoins. He believes that well-functioning RWA markets can contribute to Vietnam's economic growth by expanding access to capital, improving market transparency, enhancing resource allocation, and supporting long-term economic growth.

In terms of challenges facing Vietnam in attracting international investment into its pilot crypto asset market, Tchui emphasizes the need for regulatory clarity, market infrastructure, cross-border capital mobility, talent and operational depth, and institutional-grade use cases.