The country’s deputy prime minister has instructed the Ministries of Finance,Justice, and Information & Communications to work with the central bank,the State Bank of Vietnam, on the framework.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai reportedlynotified three ministries last week instructing them to work with the centralbank, the State Bank of Vietnam, and other relevant bodies to build a legalframework for cryptocurrencies. The three ministries are Finance, Justice, andInformation & Communications.
The deputy prime minister has tasked the Ministry of Financewith the prime responsibility of reaching an agreement with other regulatorybodies and the central bank to identify specific pieces of legislation thatneed to be amended, supplemented, and promulgated as well as recommending aspecific time frame for implementation. The legal framework for crypto will becreated according to the details laid out in Decision 1255, issued by theVietnamese prime minister on Aug. 21, 2017. Decision 1255 approves a plan todevelop a legal framework for the management and handling of “virtual assets,digital currencies, and virtual currencies.”
A few proposals to regulate crypto were put forward inNovember 2018 but no decision was made. Reports indicated thatVietnamese regulators did not share a common view on how to regulatecryptocurrency.
According to a government report on the implementation ofDecision 1255 dated Feb. 17, 2021, the Ministry of Finance had establisheda study group on crypto assets with the aim to make recommendationson the legal framework for the supervision of crypto issuance and tradingactivities. Meanwhile, crypto ownership in Vietnam has grown significantly overthe past years. Research by Triple A shows that over 5.9 million people, or6.1% of the total population of Vietnam, currently own cryptocurrency.A surveyby Finder.com shows Vietnamese respondents havingthe highest percentage of crypto ownership.
