Overview
- Vietnam’s State Securities Commission began accepting applications on January 20 under Decision No. 96, which sets procedures for issuing, adjusting, and revoking licenses.
- Applicants must be Vietnamese entities with at least VND 10 trillion in paid-in capital, with a minimum 65% held by institutional investors and more than 35% contributed by at least two qualifying institutions.
- Regulators indicate complete applications can be processed in about 30 days, though mandatory IT security certification by the Ministry of Public Security may extend timelines.
- Banks and brokers including SSI, VIX, MBBank, Techcombank, and VPBank say they are prepared to launch once licensed, supported by partnerships with Tether, Dunamu, Amazon Web Services, and FPT.
- The program carries a 49% foreign ownership cap and is reported to target a limited number of approved exchanges over five years, following record crypto activity in Vietnam cited by Chainalysis.