Vietnam still has no licensed crypto exchange: who is racing for the first licence, and why 122 billion dollars is at stake

Is there a licensed crypto exchange in Vietnam? Not yet. More than a year after the government opened a pilot for regulated crypto trading, companies backed by some of the country's biggest banks and securities firms have raised billions of dollars in capital and passed security checks, but none has received a licence to trade. Sacom Crypto Asset Exchange, known as SCEX, said on 22 October that it is one of five applicants whose files the Ministry of Finance has deemed complete and valid for consideration, according to a statement published by Viet Nam News.

The stakes are large. Chainalysis estimated crypto activity in Vietnam at 122.2 billion dollars over the year to June 2026, ranking the country among the region's most active markets, as reported by The Investor. Most of that activity has flowed through offshore platforms. Whoever wins the first licence will have a chance to bring millions of Vietnamese crypto users onto a regulated, dong denominated exchange.

The rules of the pilot

Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP sets the terms for Vietnam's crypto asset trading pilot. Operators must have at least 10 trillion dong, about 387 million dollars, in paid in charter capital, along with requirements covering shareholders, technology and risk controls. They must also meet Level 4 information system security standards, one of the strictest classifications in Vietnam, before they begin operating.

The high capital bar effectively limits the market to well funded groups, often tied to banks and securities companies. Digital assets have been legally recognised as property under Vietnamese law since 1 January 2026, but using crypto or stablecoins as a general means of payment remains restricted, according to an analysis by Circle reported by Blockchain.News. Trading on the pilot exchanges is expected to be in Vietnamese dong.

The approach is cautious by design. Regulators want to bring crypto trading onshore, where it can be supervised and taxed, without exposing the banking system to the volatility of digital assets.

Who is in the race

SCEX, formerly known as LPEX, said the Ministry of Public Security's cybersecurity department agreed with its proposed Level 4 security classification, and that it had raised its charter capital to 10 trillion dong, meeting the pilot requirement. In August it had increased capital from 360 billion dong to 5 trillion dong, The Investor reported. SCEX also ran a simulated trading app that it said drew more than 60,000 participants, though all balances on that platform were simulated.

Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange, known as CAEX, is part of the VPBank ecosystem. In April 2026, CAEX announced that OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital had signed investment and cooperation agreements with the company and its founding shareholders, VPBankS and LynkiD. VPBank chief executive Nguyen Duc Vinh said CAEX had fully contributed the required capital, but it had not yet received a licence. CAEX tested its platform with employees and selected partners from 6 to 25 September.

Vietnam has the users, the capital and the banks lined up. What it does not have yet is a single licence, and every month without one keeps billions of dollars offshore.

Techcom Crypto Asset Exchange, known as TCEX, backed by Techcom Securities, said in May that the Ministry of Finance had confirmed some document groups in its application were complete, while requesting more documents. VIX Securities has also helped set up VIX Crypto Asset Exchange, with initial charter capital of 1 trillion dong, far below the 10 trillion requirement.

How Vietnamese actually use crypto

Chainalysis's data suggest crypto in Vietnam is moving beyond speculation. Vietnam's crypto activity reached 122.2 billion dollars between July 2025 and June 2026, ranking fourth in the Central and Southern Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania region, behind Singapore, Australia and India, according to The Investor. Singapore led with 284.1 billion dollars, as we covered in our report on Chainalysis's Asia crypto adoption rankings.

Vietnam's utility index, which tracks practical use such as transfers, rose 127 percent, while its financial index, which tracks activity on platforms, fell 5 percent. Cross border stablecoin activity reached about 10.5 billion dollars, 1.5 times the domestic total of 6.9 billion dollars. Many users hold stablecoins as a dollar linked store of value, and freelancers working across borders use them to get paid.

Even so, Chainalysis estimated that 69.8 billion dollars flowed from Vietnam into centralised exchanges, showing that trading and speculation remain a large part of the market. Most of that has gone to offshore exchanges, which is precisely the flow the pilot aims to bring home.

Stablecoins and remittances

Circle argued that Vietnam's domestic payments are already highly digital, with QR payments, mobile banking and the NAPAS 24/7 real time network, so the real opportunity for stablecoins lies in cross border settlement. Vietnam received more than 16 billion dollars in inbound remittances in 2025, with more than 10 billion dollars going to Ho Chi Minh City alone, Circle said.

Circle estimated that 17 million to 21 million Vietnamese hold digital assets out of a population of 101.6 million. It noted that Vietnam's policy runs on three tracks: the national crypto pilot, an International Financial Centre framework for Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, and a Da Nang sandbox for local testing. None amounts to a general stablecoin payments framework. The key questions for the pilot include:

• When the Ministry of Finance will issue the first licences
• How many exchanges will be approved in the first round
• Whether foreign partners such as OKX and HashKey can provide liquidity
• How trading will be taxed and reported
• Whether stablecoin settlement will be allowed for cross border flows

Circle also described practical pain points it heard in Vietnam. A cross border provider serving Vietnamese importers said it had to pre fund dollar liquidity in overseas accounts up to three days in advance to cover supplier payments over weekends. A licensed remittance company in Ho Chi Minh City said settlement delays between foreign partners and local banks tied up working capital during peak periods.

What it means for investors and banks

For Vietnamese crypto users, licensed exchanges would offer legal protection, dong deposits and withdrawals, and oversight that offshore platforms lack. For banks such as VPBank and Techcombank, crypto exchanges are a way to capture new fee income and younger customers, a business shift that sits alongside questions about earnings quality, as we covered in our report on Vietnam's bank profits and cash collection.

The first licence will set the tone. A smooth launch could draw large volumes onshore quickly, while delays or strict rules could leave offshore platforms dominant for longer.

Vietnam has built the rules, the capital and the candidates for regulated crypto trading, but the first licence has yet to arrive. With 122 billion dollars of activity and up to 21 million holders, the prize is one of Southeast Asia's largest crypto markets. The timing and terms of the first approvals will decide how quickly that money comes onshore.