Vietnam's law enforcement measures for cryptocurrency transactions will come into effect on September 1st. According to Decree No. 284/2026/ ND-CP, domestic investors who use unlicensed trading platforms may be fined between 30 million and 50 million Vietnamese dong. This is the first time that clear penalties have been established as part of the country's cryptocurrency regulatory pilot program.

Starting from September, penalties will be imposed on transactions on unlicensed platforms.

This new regulation corresponds to a five-year regulatory pilot program that Vietnam launched in September 2025. The pilot will last until 2030, with the core objective of incorporating cryptocurrency transactions into the local licensing system and enhancing enforcement through fines.

The first batch of 5 institutions still have not obtained official licenses.

Currently, 5 institutions have passed the first round of licensing assessments, but they have not yet obtained formal operating permits. The report mentions that these applicants are mainly from bank-affiliated organizations, securities firms, and large corporate groups, and there are no native cryptocurrency companies in the initial list.

• Required to obtain Level 4 Information System Security Certification
• The minimum capital requirement is 10 trillion Vietnamese dong.
• Approximately $383 million

The trading scope is limited to tokenized assets.

According to the pilot resolution passed in 2025, tokenized assets traded on licensed platforms must be backed by real-world assets, and the issuers must be Vietnamese entities. Securities and fiat currencies are excluded from this category, and all settlements must be made in Vietnamese dong.

17 million users face transitional arrangements

Reports indicate that foreign investors will be granted market access first. Vietnamese domestic investors, on the other hand, will have to wait for six months after the Ministry of Finance issues the first official exchange license before they will be required to trade only through licensed platforms. However, in the meantime, trading on unlicensed platforms is already facing clear risks of fines.

• Single licensed exchange: Foreign capital holding limit is 49%
• As of the time of this report, no official licenses have been issued yet.
• If the approval is completed, the platform may start operating as early as in the third quarter of 2026.