Vietnam Cryptocurrency Laws Regulation of Digital Currencies: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoins, Blockchain Technology
On August 21, 2017, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Decision 1255, seeking the establishment of a legal framework to manage virtual assets, digital currencies, and virtual currencies. Under Decision 1255, the prime minister directed the State Bank, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Public Security to provide recommendations related to legislation and regulations affecting virtual currencies.[1]
On October 28, 2017, the State Bank of Vietnam declared that the issuance, supply, or use of illegal payment methods (including Bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies) was illegal and punishable with a fine up to 200 million VND.[2]
In recent years, the Vietnamese government has continued to research and enhance its management and regulation of virtual currencies. On April 11, 2018, the prime minister issued a directive in an effort to manage virtual assets/currencies and study their impact on the Vietnamese economy. This directive included, in part, the following mandates: (1) the State Bank to direct credit institutions and intermediate payment providers not to carry out transactions associated with virtual currencies; (2) the Ministry of Finance to direct securities firms not to engage in issuance, brokerage, and trading of virtual currencies; and (3) the Ministry of Public Security to intensify its investigations into acts of mobilizing funds, multi-level marketing, and fraud in relation to virtual currencies.[3]
In February 2019, the Ministry of Justice file a report after a review of current legislation related to virtual currencies and offered various policy proposals to the government. In May 2020, the Ministry of Finance established a research group to review and analyze the regulations and policies related to virtual assets.[4]
P.S. Insights on Cryptocurrency Legal Issues
Most jurisdictions and authorities have yet to enact laws governing cryptocurrencies, meaning that, for most countries, the legality of crypto mining remains unclear.
Under the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), crypto miners are considered money transmitters, so they may be subject to the laws that govern that activity. In Israel, for instance, crypto mining is treated as a business and is subject to corporate income tax. In India and elsewhere, regulatory uncertainty persists, although Canada and the United States are relatively friendly to crypto mining.
However, apart from jurisdictions that have specifically banned cryptocurrency-related activities, very few countries prohibit crypto mining.
Our Freeman Law Cryptocurrency Law Resource page provides a summary of the legal status of cryptocurrency for each country across the globe with statutory or regulatory provisions governing cryptocurrency. The globe below provides links to country-by-country summaries:
