Recently, I noticed that the Vietnamese crypto market is about to undergo a major change. According to internal documents from the Ministry of Finance, Hanoi authorities plan to fully ban citizens from trading digital assets on overseas platforms starting in 2026. The logic behind this move is quite clear—Vietnam, one of the countries with the highest global crypto adoption rates (ranked fourth), sees over $200 billion worth of digital asset transactions annually. The authorities view this as a primary channel for capital outflow and want to block it.

Honestly, the underground trading market in Vietnam is truly enormous. The government’s current goal is to redirect this traffic from international major exchanges back to domestically regulated platforms, which can both control capital outflow risks and strengthen anti-money laundering measures. This approach is actually modeled after Thailand and South Korea’s strategies.

Interestingly, the government isn’t aiming for a complete ban on crypto trading but is pushing for “regulation and compliance.” Currently, five local giants have passed the first round of review and are preparing to compete for Vietnam’s first licensed exchanges. These five are Techcombank, VPBank, LPBank, VIX Securities, and Sun Group. Just from the list, it’s clear that these are heavyweight players in Vietnam’s financial sector—banks, brokerages, and corporate groups are all involved.

However, the entry barriers for this competition are extremely high. Applicants must have at least VND 10 trillion (about $380 million) in paid-in capital, with over 65% of shares held by regulated financial institutions. Overseas ownership is also limited to below 49%. Essentially, this is telling small startups: don’t even bother.

From a regulatory perspective, exchanges must fully segregate customer assets from their own, individual investors will pay a 0.1% income tax on transactions, and institutional profits will face a 20% corporate tax. These regulations are quite strict.

In my view, Vietnam’s move is very well thought out—it can prevent unlimited capital outflow while turning the massive retail market into a controlled financial revenue source. However, forcing users to migrate from highly liquid global markets to relatively closed local platforms might trigger user backlash or even more rampant underground trading. The actual impact will depend on how the implementation unfolds. This is definitely a major turning point for Vietnam’s crypto ecosystem.