Completing the legal framework for managing virtual assets is an important task in Decision 194 of the Prime Minister on the National Action Plan for Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
This information was provided by Mr. Nguyen Doan Hung, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain Association (VBA), former Chairman of the Vietnam Securities Commission, at the scientific workshop on Building a Legal Framework for Managing Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) organized by VBA on March 13.
 Mr. Phan Duc Trung, Deputy Permanent Chairman of VBA |
According to Mr. Hung, in the context of Vietnam being placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “Grey List” for anti-money laundering, completing the legal framework for managing virtual assets is even more urgent.
In addition, the operation of virtual assets from practical experience requires a legal framework. Currently, cryptocurrency transactions in Vietnam through exchanges are lively, with popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.
Mr. Phan Duc Trung, Deputy Permanent Chairman of VBA, emphasized that virtual assets are a global irreversible trend. The total value of virtual assets is expected to account for 10% of global GDP, equivalent to USD 16,000 trillion by 2030.
Some popular virtual assets today include Cryptocurrency, NFT, Token, etc. For virtual asset service providers, there are two main types: centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges.
Mr. Trung, Deputy Permanent Chairman of VBA, stated that based on the consultative opinions of relevant parties, 60% are inclined towards prohibiting virtual assets, and 40% are neutral. Trung emphasized that prohibiting virtual assets is not feasible.
Instead, it is necessary to quickly issue regulations on managing virtual assets and virtual asset service providers in compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) anti-money laundering standards to remove Vietnam from the “Grey List” according to Decision No. 194 of the Prime Minister dated February 23, 2024.
In Decision 194, the Government clearly stated the research and development of a legal framework to prohibit or regulate virtual assets and virtual asset service providers.
From the reality in Vietnam, Mr. Trung mentioned that in 2017, a lawsuit related to the virtual currency Bitcoin arose. Specifically, the Ben Tre Tax Department issued a decision to collect a total of VND 2.6 billion in value-added tax and personal income tax from Mr. Nguyen Viet C. (in Ben Tre), who had been engaged in online digital currency trading from 2008 to 2013.
Afterwards, Mr. C. filed a lawsuit against the tax collection decisions. The Ben Tre Provincial People’s Court later annulled the tax collection decisions of the Ben Tre Tax Department for the petitioner, Mr. Nguyen Viet Cuong, stating that digital currency was not legally considered a commodity.
The reporter also raised the issue that in 2017, the Prime Minister also assigned relevant ministries to develop a legal framework for virtual assets and digital currencies, but this has not been completed yet. Is it feasible to complete it by May 2025 as required in Decision No. 194?
In response to this issue, Mr. Phan Duc Trung emphasized that at this time, there is a lot of “motivation” for ministries to research and develop a legal framework and express their stance on virtual assets. Among them is the motivation to remove Vietnam from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “Grey List”. The VBA representative also acknowledged that this is a difficult and sensitive issue, so the regulatory authorities are quite cautious.
At the workshop, Mr. Phan Duc Trung also proposed that the business community and professional associations proactively pay taxes and propose tax-paying solutions to affirm the role of virtual assets and virtual asset service providers in contributing to the country’s economy.
Minh Chien
