[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] Vietnam will impose fines of up to 50 million dong (about 2,810,000 won) on individual investors who buy and sell cryptocurrencies on platforms not licensed by the Ministry of Finance from September.

Cryptopolitan, a blockchain media outlet, reported on July 20 that the move is part of tighter regulation aimed at steering Vietnamese investors who have used overseas exchanges into an approved local market.

The new rules take effect on Sept. 1. If an individual trades cryptocurrencies on a platform without a Ministry of Finance licence, the fine is 30 million dong (about 1,690,000 won) to 50 million dong. If an individual trades cryptocurrencies permitted only for foreign investors, the fine rises to 70 million dong (about 3,940,000 won) to 100 million dong (about 5,630,000 won).

Vietnam is considered one of the world’s most active markets for cryptocurrency trading. It ranked fourth in Chainalysis’ 2025 global crypto adoption index, and the scale of crypto activity in Vietnam exceeded $220 billion from July 2024 to June 2025. The government’s introduction of penalties for individual investors reflects a growing need to bring the local market within the institutional framework.

The rules place heavier responsibility on businesses than on individuals. Operators running crypto services without approval or advertising without authorisation must pay fines of 180 million dong (about 10,000,000 won) to 200 million dong (about 11,300,000 won). If they fail to verify customer identities when opening accounts, fines of 50 million dong to 70 million dong apply. Companies can also face fines of up to 200 million dong for issuing cryptocurrencies without meeting issuance requirements, failing to disclose required documents, or providing assets to unqualified investors.

The measures also include rules on handling account information. Authorities will fine entities 150 million dong to 200 million dong for collecting, storing, selling or disclosing user account data without authorisation. The maximum administrative penalty is 200 million dong for corporations and 100 million dong for individuals, and for violations at the same level, individual fines are generally set at about half of corporate fines.

The move ties in with Vietnam’s five-year pilot crypto market launched in September 2025. The government has said it would limit the number of exchanges to no more than 5 in the first phase of the pilot programme. It plans to decide whether to expand after managing risks and reviewing market development.

Nguyen Duc Chi (응우옌 득 치), a deputy finance minister, said in May 2026 that regulated trading could begin as early as the third quarter of 2026. The current focus of regulation is therefore on establishing trading order around licensed platforms.

Licence reviews are also under way. The Ministry of Finance began accepting applications on Jan. 20, 2026, and reviews can take up to 30 business days after receiving a complete application. Techcombank, VPBank and LPBank were cited as having passed initial eligibility screening. They were joined by local brokerage VIX Securities and private conglomerate Sun Group.

Under the pilot system, all cryptocurrency assets must be provided, traded and settled in Vietnamese dong. Cryptocurrencies can also be issued only based on tangible underlying assets, not as securities or legal tender. Issuance is currently permitted only for foreign investors, and trading must take place only through licensed service providers.

This structure is expected to lead to a direction in which individual investors in Vietnam are also encouraged to trade only on licensed platforms. As the government begins imposing fines for using unlicensed platforms, Vietnam’s crypto market, which had centred on overseas exchanges, has become more likely to be reshaped around local licensed operators.