Five Vietnam Crypto License Applicants Clear First Screening as OKX Backs $380M Exchange
Vietnam has not issued its first crypto exchange license yet. Mid-April 2026, that is still true. What has happened: five applicants linked to major Vietnamese financial institutions cleared the Ministry of Finance's initial screening in March, and on April 10, OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital backed Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange (CAEX) with capital that pushed it past USD 380 million. The VND 10 trillion threshold that looked prohibitive six months ago now has a clear path to being met, but only through partnerships between Vietnamese banks and foreign crypto specialists.
Who made the shortlist
According to a March 12, 2026 MOF document, the five shortlisted applicants are affiliates of Techcombank, VPBank, and LPBank, plus VIX Securities and Sun Group. All remain in IT and security review, which includes Ministry of Public Security Level 4 cybersecurity certification. None has the license in hand. The April 10 OKX and HashKey investment in CAEX was the first visible sign that foreign capital is finding a route through the 65% Vietnamese-institution requirement. Tether has a similar structure. Dunamu, operator of South Korea's Upbit, is working with MBBank.
The VND 10 trillion charter capital (roughly USD 400 million) established under Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP is not a typo, and nobody has publicly pushed back on it. The threshold exceeds what most ASEAN commercial banks require for a banking license, but the partnership model is proving viable.
Accounting standards finally arrived
The MOF issued Circular No. 15/2026/TT-BTC in March, providing the accounting principles for crypto market participants that the December resolution had deferred. Taxation still sits under securities rules and dedicated digital asset tax treatment has not been published.
Separately, Reuters reported on March 17 that the MOF is drafting a full ban on Vietnamese residents using offshore platforms like Binance and OKX. The logic is consistent: if Vietnamese institutions must anchor the onshore market, keeping retail traders on that market requires restricting access to global alternatives. Enforcement mechanisms remain unclear.
The sanctions decree is still draft
The MOF's draft Administrative Sanctions Decree, released for public consultation in November 2025, has not been finalized. Maximum fines in the draft reach VND 200 million (~USD 7,700) for organizations and VND 100 million (~USD 3,800) for individuals per violation. Trading on unlicensed platforms: VND 10 to 30 million. KYC failures: VND 50 to 70 million. Enforcement is expected to begin six months after the first CASP receives its license, which pushes the first enforcement window into late 2026 at the earliest.
Twenty-one million users, still zero licensed exchanges
Vietnam ranks seventh globally in crypto adoption. Roughly 21.2 million adults have used digital assets, and annual transaction volumes exceed USD 100 billion, about 25% of the country's GDP. None of this has happened on a licensed Vietnamese exchange, because none has existed yet. Whether the first license is issued in Q2 or Q3 2026 is now a question of how quickly the cybersecurity reviews clear, not whether the capital can be raised.
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