Trading through an unlicensed provider became punishable in September. As of October, no provider has been licensed. Both of those sentences are currently true.

Vietnam's digital technology law took effect on 1 January 2026 and recognises crypto assets as a category of property. A five-year pilot for licensed exchanges followed, applications opened in January, and several were shortlisted in March.

Then, from 1 September 2026, penalties for crypto-asset violations came into force — including a fine for trading through an unlicensed provider.

As of early October, no exchange had been licensed.

The gap, stated plainly

This leaves residents in a position that is unusual enough to be worth naming: there is a penalty for using unlicensed platforms, and there is no licensed alternative to move to. Not a loophole, not a scandal — a sequencing problem of the kind that happens when a licensing regime and an enforcement regime are drafted by different timetables.

We are not going to tell you what to do about that, because it is a question about your own exposure under your own country's law, and we are not lawyers. What we can do is make sure nobody is confused about the facts.

Worth watching

The shortlist exists and the first licences have been described as planned for this year more than once, each time slipping. When a register appears we will link it on the registers page, where Vietnam currently sits in the small group of countries whose honest entry is "there is nothing to check yet, and here is why that matters".

Related: the questions to ask before you send money, and the Vietnam country page.