Vietnamese deputy PM calls for building legal framework for digital assets

Le Minh Khai, the deputy prime minister of Vietnam, has issued a notification to the Finance Ministry, asking them to explore and amend laws to build a legal framework for the digital asset market.

In a notice dated last Wednesday, the deputy prime minister instructed the Ministry of Finance to assume the prime responsibility for developing the legal framework for the crypto market. The reported list of instructions includes identifying specific legal documents that need to be amended or supplemented.

The Finance Ministry would subsequently work alongside the Ministry of Justice, Information and Communications and the State Bank of Vietnam to develop a regulatory framework for the digital asset market, reported Vietnam Net.

The three ministries along with the central bank will look into various legal aspects of digital assets and their effects on the economy.

The new legal framework for the digital asset market will be developed in accordance with Decision 1255, which was issued by the prime minister in August 2017. In 2017, the government passed Decision 1255, which approves the plan to develop a legal framework for “virtual assets, digital currencies and virtual currencies.”

Vietnam has had a complicated relationship with crypto over the past few years. The Southeast Asian nation started by banning Bitcoin transactions in 2014 but had a complete turnaround in 2017 when then PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved BTC as a form of payment. However, in 2018, BTC was banned  as a mode of payment.

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Vietnam’s government then established a crypto research group in 2020, tasked with the responsibility of researching various developments in the virtual asset market and recommending legal policy proposals.

Despite a lack of legal framework around the crypto market in the country, Vietnamese has the highest percentage of crypto holders worldwide. According to Finder’s crypto ownership report, Vietnam tops the worldwide rankings, with 41% of its population reportedly holding crypto.

The large crypto holding population in Vietnam, along with the growing popularity and adoption of cryptocurrencies in the Asian market, could have prompted the government to call for the development of a legal framework around the nascent market.