Vietnam to offer crypto exchange licensing with spicy capital requirements

From 20 January, Vietnam has commenced taking applications for licensing for crypto exchanges, but the requirements for licensing have proven eye watering and designed to lock out all but the largest existing traditional operators. Among the requirements are:

• a minimum capital of approximately US $380 million;

• ownership stipulations including at least 65% institutional holdings; and

• at least 35% ownership from two institutional investors who are involved in banking and finance; and

• a 49% cap on foreign ownership.

  
  

While large global crypto exchanges likely have the balance sheet to meet capital requirements, the requirements for investors to be involved in the traditional finance world and such a stringent local ownership requirement is viewed as protectionist.

Domestic institutions such as SSI Securities, VIX, Military Bank, Techcombank, and VPBank have signaled their preparedness to apply, though no approvals have been granted as yet.

Notably, the five-year pilot prohibits fiat-backed stablecoins, which have been growing in popularity and Vietnam is emphasizing a cautious rollout focusing on "stability and enforcement". This builds on Vietnam's 2025 crypto law, which first acknowledged digital assets, now operationalizing supervision amid the nation's high adoption rates.

Commentary online highlight a mix of optimism and scrutiny. Community voices point to the high capital barrier—pegged at around $400 million—as a gatekeeper favoring major entities:

Others have celebrated it as a pathway for legitimacy of DeFi:

Broader sentiments tie this to global trends, with some linking it to Vietnam's BRICS, with the group moving towards launching a rival to the SWIFT network. The BRICS countries have been making steps to de-dollarisation and using alternatives to the US dollar for some time, involving direct transfers between digital currencies, but the Vietnam ban on stablecoins under this pilot system doesn't seem to be aligned with that approach and so may require adjustment.

One user pointed out that practically many Vietnamese don't use local exchanges, given there's no compensation mechanism:

As Vietnam's regime unfolds—600 times stricter than Hong Kong's US$640,000 threshold and far above most other countries, it seems clear that Vietnam has chosen to only allow the biggest players to offer crypto to citizens, leaving unregulated DEX and other offerings to provide competition on price. With Vietnam a top 5 country for crypto this may either create a super valuable captive market for large corporates, or help drive the country's adoption rates even higher.

By Michael Bacina