Vietnam’s proposed digital assets legalization framework has the potential to minimize fraud in the country’s crypto space once passed.
This is the position of Vietnam Blockchain Association chairman Phan Đức Trung, who revealed in an interview with Vietnam News that the association recently received reports of a $100 million crypto fraud targeting Vietnamese investors. According to Trung, criminals continue to evade accountability in Vietnam due to the country’s “policy grey zones” regarding the legal status of cryptocurrency and digital assets.
On Oct. 22, Vietnam launched an ambitious National Blockchain Strategy with the stated goal of positioning the country as a leader in blockchain technology across Asia by 2030. Despite this ambition, Vietnamese law has yet to officially recognize digital assets, creating a regulatory grey area that Trung says provides opportunities for criminal exploitation.
Vietnamese citizens are among Asia’s most active crypto investors, with blockchain-related capital inflows estimated at $105 billion for 2023-2024. An estimated 17 million Vietnamese people use cryptocurrencies, collectively earning $1.2 billion in profits from crypto investments in 2023—ranking third globally behind the U.S. and the U.K. Despite these impressive figures, Trung argues that the lack of regulatory clarity allows bad actors to operate through entities registered in offshore jurisdictions, making enforcement difficult.
In December, police in Hanoi arrested eight suspects involved in a crypto investment scam that sold fake tokens to victims, ultimately defrauding them of over $1 million in total. A few days later in Dong Nai Province, 4 suspects were arrested by police after defrauding victims of more than $150,000 in a crypto mining scam that lured victims into buying a worthless memecoin called ‘Bincoin.’
According to Trung, the draft law, tentatively set for passage in Q2 2025, will establish a legal framework for consumer protection and dispute resolution while addressing issues such as money laundering and illicit financial flows currently associated with cryptocurrency in Vietnam.
