Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has circulated a draft policy that would tax cryptocurrency transfers much like securities trades, proposing a 0.1% personal income tax on the value of each crypto transfer executed through licensed service providers. The draft, issued for public consultation, also exempts crypto transfers and trading from value-added tax, but the turnover-based levy would apply to every transfer when executed, irrespective of the investor’s residency.
Corporates would face a different approach: institutional investors and firms earning income from crypto transfers would pay a 20% corporate income tax on profits, calculated after deducting purchase costs and related expenses.
The proposal offers a formal definition of crypto assets, describing them as digital assets that depend on cryptographic or analogous technologies for issuance, storage and verification of transfers.
Operators would confront strict licensing and capital rules. Entities seeking to run a digital asset exchange would be required to hold at least 10 trillion Vietnamese dong (roughly $408 million) in charter capital — a threshold that the draft notes is higher than that for commercial banks and substantially above many other industry standards. The rules would allow foreign investment but cap foreign ownership of an exchange at 49%.
Vietnam ranks fourth globally for crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis. The draft follows a five-year pilot program to create a regulated crypto market launched in September 2025. On Oct. 6, 2025, the Ministry of Finance reported that no companies had applied to join the pilot at that time, citing the high capital requirements and stringent eligibility conditions.
Authorities moved forward last month by opening applications for licenses to operate digital asset trading platforms. The State Securities Commission of Vietnam said administrative-procedure applications would be accepted beginning Jan. 20, 2026, as part of a broader effort to bring crypto activity under formal regulatory oversight.
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