Five Vietnamese firms pass first-ever crypto exchange review

Five Vietnamese companies have become the first in the country to pass a qualification review for virtual asset exchanges, Reuters reported. According to a document from the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance, the approved firms include affiliates of three banks—Techcombank, VPBank, and LPBank—along with securities firm VIX Securities and real estate developer Sun Group. The Vietnamese government plans to introduce a pilot program for a digital asset exchange as early as this month. Concurrently, the Ministry of Finance is reportedly preparing new regulations to prohibit its citizens from using overseas virtual asset exchanges. Currently, cryptocurrencies are not recognized as official currency or legal tender in Vietnam, leading most crypto holders to use offshore centralized exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit.