Vietnam VASP Licence: How the Crypto Licensing Regime Works and How to Verify a Platform

A licence to organise a crypto-asset trading market is the central permission in Vietnam’s pilot regime. Resolution 05/2025/ND-CP sets the licensing framework, while the Ministry of Finance publishes the procedures for granting, amending and withdrawing the licence; a platform calling itself “licensed” has not proved its status by using that label alone.

What services does the licence cover?

Resolution 05 was issued and became effective on 9 September 2025, with a five-year pilot period, according to the Government policy text published on 3 November 2025. It defines a crypto-asset service provider as a business that provides one or more of these services: organising a trading market, proprietary trading, custody, and an issuance platform.

This is not a general certificate for every blockchain technology business. A market-organiser licence authorises activity within the permitted scope and carries obligations concerning accounts, customer assets, monitoring, anti-money-laundering controls, public information and system security. A wallet, software or data company is not automatically a licensed exchange.

Capital and ownership conditions

Article 8 of Resolution 05, dated 9 September 2025, requires an applicant to be a Vietnamese enterprise with contributed charter capital of at least ten trillion Vietnamese dong, paid in Vietnamese dong. The same provision requires at least sixty-five percent of charter capital from institutional shareholders, including more than thirty-five percent from at least two institutions in the listed banking, securities, fund-management, insurance or technology groups.

Article 8 of the 9 September 2025 resolution also caps the total foreign investment contribution or share purchase at forty-nine percent of charter capital. Institutional contributors must have legal-person status, have been profitable for the two years before the application year, and have audited financial statements with an unqualified opinion. These conditions distinguish a market licence from ordinary company registration or a domain name.

People, systems and procedures

Resolution 05 dated 9 September 2025 requires an applicant to have an office, facilities, equipment and technology suitable for its services. The general director must have at least two years of experience in the operations division of a financial, securities, banking, insurance or fund-management organisation. The technology director must have at least five years of relevant information-technology experience.

The personnel conditions also require at least ten technology employees with information-security training certificates and at least ten employees with securities-practice certificates in other operations divisions. The same 9 September 2025 resolution requires the information system to meet level-four information-security standards before operation.

The application must describe risk management, security, issuance-platform, custody and customer-asset management, trading and settlement, proprietary trading, anti-money-laundering, disclosure, internal control, transaction monitoring, conflict-of-interest, complaint and customer-compensation procedures. A company’s “verified” badge cannot replace this public licensing information.

How to check a platform’s status

The Ministry of Finance says that Decision 96/QD-BTC, issued on 20 January 2026, introduced three administrative procedures for granting, amending and withdrawing the market-organiser licence. The Ministry announcement dated 26 January 2026 says the grant procedure takes thirty days after a complete and valid dossier is received. Start with Ministry of Finance and securities-authority publications rather than platform advertising.

• Find the legal entity, enterprise registration details and exact licence name. A brand may not be the company named in a licence.
• Compare the licence number, issue date, service scope and current status with the Ministry of Finance publication. If no official publication can be found, treat the status as unverified.
• Check the date on which services may begin. Article 10 of Resolution 05 requires the enterprise to publish its official service date and specified procedures on its website and the Ministry of Finance website after licensing.
• Read the published fee schedule and customer-asset separation information. Article 15 of Resolution 05 requires public fees and separation of customer money and crypto assets from the provider’s own assets.
• Compare the domain, app and receiving legal entity. A licence held by one company does not prove that a copied website or intermediary account belongs to it.

Obligations users should be able to see

Under Article 15 of Resolution 05 dated 9 September 2025, a provider must identify account holders, monitor trading, protect customer assets and follow anti-money-laundering duties. The provider must keep specified transaction, originator, beneficiary, account, device and access records on servers in Vietnam for at least ten years under the same resolution. The provider’s retention duty does not replace a user’s duty to keep personal records.

Resolution 05 also requires at least thirty days’ notice before a fee change takes effect and makes the provider responsible for resolving disputes and compensating losses under law when customers lose money or crypto assets because the security system became unsafe, was penetrated or was used in fraud. This is not a promise that every trading loss will be reimbursed.

Frequently asked questions

Does Vietnamese company registration prove a platform is licensed?

No. Company registration is not the market-organiser licence required by Resolution 05. Compare the entity and the licence publication at an official Ministry of Finance source.

Can I rely on a “licensed” badge?

Do not use a badge as the only proof. Find the Ministry of Finance publication, permitted service scope and operating date, then compare them with the legal entity receiving money and the app you are using.

What if I cannot find the platform’s name?

Do not deposit money while waiting for a claimed licence to appear. Record the legal entity, ask the authority or official support channel, and continue only after the status is confirmed. You can also read the custody and tokenised-asset guide and the digital-asset risk guide.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Verify the current licence and consult a licensed professional before opening an account or transferring assets.