South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb is accelerating its international expansion through a new partnership in Vietnam as the country prepares to launch its first licensed domestic digital asset trading platforms.
Bithumb announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with SSI Digital, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s largest brokerage firm, SSI Securities, to collaborate on establishing and operating a virtual asset exchange in the country.
The agreement, signed in Hanoi in March and publicly disclosed on Thursday, also includes the possibility of a strategic equity investment by Bithumb in an entity designated by SSI Digital, pending regulatory approval from Vietnamese authorities.
The partnership positions Bithumb to participate in Vietnam’s pilot framework for licensed digital asset exchanges, offering a potential foothold in one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing crypto markets.
Vietnam’s five-year crypto pilot program, introduced in September 2025, requires exchange operators to be locally incorporated entities with at least 10 trillion Vietnamese dong — roughly $380 million — in charter capital, while limiting foreign ownership to 49%. Regulators are also considering rules that may restrict access to unlicensed overseas trading platforms.
Competition for Vietnam’s crypto exchange licenses is already heating up. A finance ministry document cited by Reuters in March said five firms — including affiliates of private lenders Techcombank, VPBank and LPBank, as well as VIX Securities and conglomerate Sun Group — have advanced through the initial qualification stage.
Among the frontrunners is VPBank-backed CAEX, which secured support from OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital in April to help satisfy Vietnam’s minimum capital requirements for the pilot program.
SSI Securities, Bithumb’s local partner, is one of Vietnam’s largest brokerage firms and established SSI Digital Technology JSC in 2022 to lead its expansion into digital assets. Vietnam ranked fourth globally for crypto adoption in 2025, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
According to Bithumb’s statement, the company and SSI Digital intend to cooperate on exchange infrastructure, custody and wallet systems, cybersecurity, risk management, regulatory compliance and institutional business development. However, no timeline has been announced for a formal license application or final investment decision, and Vietnam has yet to approve a fully licensed crypto exchange under the pilot framework.
The overseas push comes as Bithumb faces mounting challenges in South Korea following a major payout error and delays to its public listing plans.
The exchange has postponed its initial public offering until after 2028, saying it needs to strengthen internal controls and accounting standards after previous regulatory penalties.
In February, Bithumb accidentally credited users with 620,000 Bitcoin instead of 620,000 Korean won during a promotional campaign, briefly creating more than $40 billion in paper balances and causing sharp price volatility on the platform. The company said it recovered 99.7% of the mistaken payouts and is pursuing legal action to recover the remaining 7 BTC.
