Why Vietnamese Crypto Trading Platforms Require Bank Shareholding
In the proposed and newly established crypto asset trading pilot framework, Vietnamese government and regulatory authorities (Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Vietnam) have imposed strict requirements for financial institution/bank shareholding in licensed exchanges (e.g., mandating that domestic financial institutions hold at least 65% of equity). This regulatory design is primarily driven by the following core considerations:
1. Mandatory Look-Through Bank Oversight to Eliminate Money Laundering and Illicit Capital Risks
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Meeting FATF AML/CFT Standards: After being placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “Grey List,” Vietnam faces immense international regulatory pressure. The anonymity of cryptocurrencies makes them high-risk vectors for money laundering, underground banking, and illicit capital outflows.
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Real-Name Verification and Look-Through Capital Flow: Banks operate under the world’s most stringent Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) frameworks. Deep bank equity participation directly links the exchange’s liquidity pools with real-time bank monitoring systems, enabling full identity and source-of-funds transparency for every fiat-to-crypto transaction.
2. Securing Fiat Currency Dominance to Safeguard National Monetary Sovereignty
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Mandatory Settlement in Vietnamese Dong (VNĐ): Vietnamese law strictly prohibits cryptocurrencies from being used as legal tender.
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Preventing “De Facto Dollarization”: Without deep bank involvement, exchanges could easily devolve into trading hubs where stablecoins like USDT replace local currency for daily circulation. Bank shareholding locks down all fiat deposits, withdrawals, and settlement gateways at the infrastructure level, ensuring all trades flow strictly through regulated VNĐ bank accounts.
3. Leveraging Traditional Financial Risk Management and Information Security Standards
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Upgrading Technical Defenses (e.g., Security Level 2/3 Standards): Crypto exchanges suffer from frequent cyberattacks, asset thefts, and downtime. Banks possess extensive experience in Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) and level-based protection (such as ISO 27001, high-grade security defenses, and Hardware Security Modules / HSM).
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Fund Custody and Cold/Hot Wallet Segregation: Enforcing bank equity or deep participation facilitates a “Segregation of Trading and Custody” model—where the exchange handles order matching while user fiat reserves and assets are custodied or overseen by licensed banks or trust entities, preventing platforms from misappropriating customer funds (averting FTX-style collapses).
4. Establishing High Administrative and Capital Barriers to Flush Out Unlicensed Small Platforms
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Extremely High Paid-in Capital Requirements (e.g., Trillions of VNĐ): Typical Web3 startup teams or illicit operator networks simply cannot fulfill such steep capital reserve and ownership structure demands.
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Building Trust via “State-Backed / Institutional Conglomerate” Endorsement: The entry of major domestic bank-affiliated entities—such as Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB Bank), Techcombank, and VPBank—instantly injects institutional credibility into the newly established compliant market, steering retail investors away from unlicensed offshore platforms toward licensed domestic entities.
（Vietnam crypto exchange）
5. Tax Administration and Look-Through Auditing
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The banking system operates automated clearing infrastructure directly integrated with the General Department of Taxation. By binding capital channels through bank equity participation, the state can execute tax withholding at the source and automated audits for both transfer/stamp taxes on retail trades (such as the proposed 0.1% retail transaction tax) and corporate income tax on platform earnings.