Vietnam's Crypto Licensing Pilot Hits Roadblock
A pilot program to license cryptocurrency exchanges in Vietnam has been running for nine months with seven applicants, but no licenses have been issued yet. The program was meant to launch by Q2 of this year, according to the Prime Minister's public statement in April. However, Resolution 05, signed in September 2025, capped the pilot at five operators and required a charter capital of 10 trillion dong, Level 4 information security appraisal, and sign-off from the Ministry of Public Security before opening an order book.
The first license will trigger a six-month transition for domestic traders, pulling them off foreign platforms and squeezing offshore liquidity. Licensed venues will also open without USDT, which is the pair Vietnamese retail traders actually trade in, creating a gap between onshore and offshore prices.
Vietnam's efforts to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges are driven by its desire to meet FATF recommendations and EU models for supervision. The country was still on the FATF grey list after the June 2026 plenary, and a licensed, monitored, dong-settled venue is seen as a direct answer to that.