Vietnam second largest ASEAN crypto holder

Vietnam is the second largest cryptocurrency holder in ASEAN region after Thailand, with over 16.6 million cryptocurrency holders.

According to the Coin98 Insights Vietnam Crypto Market Report 2022, Vietnam has an average of 200 distributed ledger blockchains as of 2022. 31% of the 16.6 million crypto holders have bitcoin.

Vietnam embraces crypto

The most active blockchain projects in the country include NFTs (non-fungible tokens), GameFi (game finance), infrastructure, wallets, DeFi (decentralized finance), and web3 (decentralized Internet).

Metaverse platforms and games projects make up 28.8% of blockchain projects. DeFi accounted for 26.0%, including Coin98 Finance, Rikkei Finance, and Kyber Network.

NFT projects comprised 12.4%, Axie Infinity, DareNFT, Titan Hunters, and Spores. Infrastructure projects took 11.3%, including TomoChain and SotaTek, while web3 occupied 5.1% of the assets.

Seven of the top 200 blockchain companies were founded by Vietnamese citizens.

Growth and adoption of cryptocurrency in Vietnam

The cryptocurrency industry in Vietnam has grown tremendously despite government interference with investor activities. There have been numerous instances where the Vietnamese government has been calling for crypto regulations. 

The prime minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, has called the government to study and enforce crypto regulations since the country’s residents continue trading digital assets despite withholding or legal recognition. 

The prime minister said that the anti-money laundering or AML bill should amend virtual currencies since “people still trade” crypto in the country. He also suggested that the government may regulate cryptocurrency to address its involvement in financial crimes. 

The Vietnamese government does not legally recognize cryptocurrencies as a valid payment method. Still, it allows holding tokens in apparently legal gray areas such as asset holding and investments.

However, a past analysis showed that Vietnam was the first country to adopt crypto in 2021 and 2022. The country displayed greatly high purchasing power and adoption of DeFi, and P2P cryptocurrency tools, albeit population-adjusted.

Some of Vietnam’s lawmakers have advocated for cryptocurrency adoption, such as exploring Vietnam’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), which has fueled the industry’s adoption and growth.

Some regulations have prohibited organizations and independent investors from holding, investing, and trading anything related to cryptocurrencies.