Vietnamese Government Calls For Digital Asset Legal Regulation

The Vietnamese government calls for the establishment of a law on digital assets. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA – Deputy Prime Minister (PM) of Vietnam Le Minh Khai issued a notification to the Ministry of Finance to amend the law to regulate digital asset exchanges. It is intended to explore and build the legal framework of the stock exchange.

Le Minh Khai instructed the Ministry of Finance to take full responsibility for developing the legal framework for cryptocurrency exchanges on Wednesday, March 23. The list of reported instructions, among other things, identifies certain documents that need to be changed or added.

According to Cointelegraph, Vietnam's Ministry of Finance will work with the Ministry of Justice, Information and Communications, as well as the State Bank of Vietnam. The collaboration is to develop a regulatory framework for digital asset exchanges in the country.

The three ministries and the central bank will then jointly look at various legal aspects of digital assets and their impact on the economy. Meanwhile, the legal framework for digital asset exchanges will be developed in accordance with decree 1225, issued by the prime minister in August 2017. In 2017 the government issued Decree 1225, which approved plans to develop legislation for virtual assets, digital currencies, and virtual currency.

Despite planning a digital asset legal framework, Vietnam itself has had a complicated relationship with crypto in recent years. This ASEAN country started by banning Bitcoin in 2014, but underwent a complete change in 2017. At that time, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved Bitcoin as a form of payment.

After that, the Vietnamese government established a crypto research group in 2020. The group has the responsibility to research developments in the virtual asset market and recommend legal policy proposals.

Although the legal framework for crypto exchanges is still lacking, Vietnam is the country with the highest percentage of crypto holders worldwide. According to Finder's crypto ownership report, Vietnam is at the top of the world rankings, with 41 percent of the population holding crypto.

This large percentage of crypto ownership is due to the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies in the Asian market. This is what causes the government to encourage the development of a legal framework for digital assets.