Vietnam to Approve Only Five Crypto Exchanges by 2026

• Vietnam will license only five crypto exchanges under its new pilot program.
• No firms have applied yet as regulations and coordination frameworks are finalized.
• The pilot aims to integrate digital assets into Vietnam’s regulated financial system.

Finance Ministry limits crypto exchange pilot to five licenses

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) of Vietnam has stated that it will license no more than five businesses to take part in its pilot crypto asset exchange program. The limit was announced by Deputy Finance Minister Nguyen Duc Chi in a government press conference on October 5, claiming that the move is intended to pilot the model of a regulated crypto market before a full-scale implementation is set in place by 2026.

Chi revealed that although the government anticipates a good business interest, to date no proposals have been received by the MoF to be part of them. After the release of the Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP in September, the ministry started to work on the elaborated implementation plans and draft policy on taxes, fees, and accounting regulations on transactions related to crypto transactions.

He also said that the ministry has been collaborating with the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Public Security to complete the licensing framework as well as coordinate regulation. Chi said that we have a process of coordinating activities between the relevant ministries and agencies to complete the licensing procedures and give a chance to the relevant applicants.

Regulatory framework aims to integrate crypto into local economy

Authorities believe that the pilot program will enable Vietnam to build a legal framework of crypto and remain financially stable. The framework will mandate every licensed exchange to comply with tough anti-money laundering policies, receive domestic licenses, and provide trading pairs denominated in Vietnamese dong by 2026.

Within the framework of the program, the foreign investors will only be allowed to be handled by licensed crypto asset service providers (CASPs), approved by the Ministry of Finance. Each has to possess at least a minimum capital of 10 trillion dong (somewhere around 379 million dollars) and shareholders belonging to at least two qualified industries, i.e. banks, insurance companies or technology corporations. Two years of profitable operations are also required of applicants.

The pilot is a supplement to the new Digital Technology Industry Law in Vietnam, which acknowledges the existence of digital assets and requires licenses for crypto service providers. It is also part of the wider technology agenda by the government, such as the establishment of NDAChain, a national blockchain created to tokenize assets, such as bonds and carbon credits.

Authorities consider that the pilot will make it easier to incorporate digital resources into the local economy, create taxes, and achieve less dependence on foreign platforms. Vietnam is seen as having a strong local adoption and blockchain ecosystem, as it is currently fourth on the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index.