The Tech Industry Pleads: Exclude Technical Operations from the Scope of Crypto Asset Management

In the petition, businesses argue that the provisions of the Draft Resolution, which only permit transactions of crypto-assets through licensed entities and prohibit activities beyond this scope, may cause purely technical activities to be misinterpreted as illegal. This directly impacts engineers, programmers, and technology enterprises engaged in researching, testing, and developing blockchain solutions in Vietnam.

According to the analysis, activities such as building decentralized applications, deploying smart contracts, maintaining blockchain systems, or performing technical interactions with crypto-assets are purely technological in nature and do not involve financial, investment, or business purposes. Even the crypto-assets used in software development are tightly controlled and do not pose risks to the financial system or legal issues such as money laundering or terrorist financing.

The petition also clarifies that the objective of issuing the Resolution is to regulate financial crypto-asset services such as issuance, custody, market organization, and crypto-asset transactions, rather than technical activities. Therefore, without clear exclusionary provisions, a blanket application will lead to negative consequences, stifling innovation and severely impacting Vietnam’s burgeoning blockchain technology industry.

Endeavor Vietnam also asserts that crypto-asset transactions conducted during product development and testing are solely for product development purposes and not for “financial” objectives. These transactions do not pose risks to the market, the financial system, or illegal money transfer risks as they can be technically monitored, checked, and supervised through blockchain technology. In reality, the source of the crypto-assets used by the engineers and programmers will be provided and closely monitored by the clients.

Endeavor Vietnam, on behalf of technology enterprises, petitions for the exclusion of the scope of application of the Draft Resolution on the pilot implementation of the crypto-asset market in Vietnam regarding the development of technology in the field of crypto-assets.

Additionally, the group of enterprises cites international policies and legal regulations. Legal frameworks such as MiCA (European Union), PSA 2019 and FSA 2022 (Singapore), as well as guidelines from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), clearly distinguish between financial service providers and technical developers. The US House of Representatives has also proposed the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act to create a legal safe harbor for technology developers who do not control user assets. As a result, organizations that solely build software, infrastructure, or source code without providing crypto-asset services will not be subject to financial regulation.

In terms of policies and directives, the petition also emphasizes alignment with the orientations outlined in Resolutions 57, 66, and 68 of the Politburo and Decision 1236/QD-TTg on blockchain technology development. These policies advocate for a liberal regime and a conducive legal corridor for innovation and the development of new technologies, including blockchain and crypto-assets.

Based on these considerations, the group of enterprises petitions the Government and relevant authorities on three main points. First, consider excluding technology development and technical service provision from the scope of the Resolution. Second, consider excluding these technical activities from the scope of administrative penalty provisions. Third, continue to develop a separate legal framework for the field of technology and technical services in the crypto-asset domain, in line with the directives of the Party, the Politburo, and the Prime Minister, including the completion of the draft Law on Digital Industry and related legal documents.

Endeavor Vietnam and the group of enterprises are committed to accompanying the Government and relevant agencies in policy development and refinement. This collaborative effort aims to ensure both social security and economic development in Vietnam.

Tu Kinh