[HO CHI MINH CITY] Vietnam is ramping up its blockchain push, with government bodies and local firms rolling out network infrastructure, while also forging home-grown crypto exchanges – including one backed by lenders such as MB and Techcombank – in a bid to capture a market long dominated by global players.
Momentum picked up in June when Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh singled out blockchain as one of Vietnam’s 11 strategic technologies, highlighting its role in areas such as cryptocurrencies, digital infrastructure and origin traceability.
That same month, Vietnam’s parliament passed a new law officially recognising digital assets.
Major initiatives have been rolled out, including NDAChain, a Layer 1 blockchain operated along with Vietnam’s National Data Centre; and the Vietnam Blockchain Services Network (VBSN), developed locally by 1Matrix and inspired by Chinese and European Union models.
Meanwhile, new locally run crypto exchanges are also in the making, including one created through a partnership between Vietnam’s military-linked lender MB and South Korea’s Dunamu, the operator of Upbit – the world’s third-largest centralised cryptocurrency exchange.
By developing fast, secure and compliant blockchain infrastructure, Vietnam is positioning itself not just as a leading crypto adopter, but also as an innovator of foundational technologies.
Vietnam’s National Data Centre, with the first facility inaugurated on Aug 18, serves as the central repository integrating data from 100 million Vietnamese citizens and thousands of governmental and organisational entities.
However, the traditional centralised data repository model faces challenges from rising cybersecurity threats, scalability bottlenecks and limited international compatibility, said Nguyen Huy, chief of technology division at Vietnam’s National Data Association (NDA) and the lead developer of the new blockchain.
To overcome these hurdles, NDAChain is designed as a decentralised and permissioned blockchain that works hand in hand with the centralised National Data Centre.
“It acts as a protective layer that authenticates and verifies citizen and private-sector data before it reaches the National Data Centre, thereby reducing system load and enhancing overall security,” added Huy, who is a former Google engineer and co-founder of blockchain firm KardiaChain.
NDAChain is built on a customised implementation of Hyperledger Fabric, a globally recognised, enterprise-grade permissioned blockchain.
Unlike public blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, firms and organisations participating in NDAChain are carefully selected and supervised. They must obtain permission to join the network either as validator nodes, which validate transactions and participate in consensus, or as full nodes, which store a complete copy of the blockchain ledger and help maintain the network’s security and decentralisation.
In the initial setup, NDAChain’s 49 validator nodes were established by major government agencies and leading local enterprises, including Masan, Vietnam Vaccine Company, Sun Group, Sovico and VNG. However, Huy noted that hundreds or even thousands more could join as nodes in the future.
“We chose security and scalability over decentralisation for the blockchain. The validator nodes are carefully cherry-picked and spread across Vietnam, making the network more resistant to attacks,” he said.
Several Layer 2 platforms are already launched on NDAChain, including NDATrace, which enables transparent, end-to-end product traceability from manufacturing to consumer; and NDAKey, a digital identity verification tool that authenticates counterparties before making any online transactions and activities – helping prevent identity theft and cyberfraud.
“The real challenge with blockchain isn’t about building a high-performance system. Let’s have less talk about technical specs and more focus on solving real-world problems,” he said.
Another attempt to form Vietnam’s blockchain infrastructure came with VBSN, which leverages concepts of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure and China’s Blockchain-based Service Network.
Do Van Thuat, director of blockchain solutions and architecture at 1Matrix, part of the Techcombank ecosystem, said that VBSN hosts six different open-sourced Layer 1 blockchain protocols that are mostly used worldwide.
“There is no one-size-fits-all technology solution; I believe no single blockchain perfectly meets all business needs and user requirements,” he added, noting that the team customises and optimises open-source protocols to meet the needs, purposes and application contexts of Vietnam.
He pointed to examples where the company has converted public blockchain protocols into permissioned networks and achieved 100 to 200 times of performance improvements.
Beyond just rapid deployment, each Layer 1 blockchain created through VBSN is pre-integrated with essential tools such as crypto asset wallets, cross-chain bridges and smart contract development kits. This comprehensive toolkit drastically reduces the time and cost associated with launching and operating blockchain solutions, Thuat noted.
“It also makes blockchain technology accessible even to traditional organisations without deep technical expertise,” he added.
Vietnam is ranked by US blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis as one of Asia’s top three crypto markets with an estimated crypto transaction volume exceeding US$100 billion between July 2023 and June 2024.
About one in six Vietnamese people – around 17.4 million – owned cryptocurrencies in 2024, indicated a report by crypto payment gateway Triple-A. In comparison, there are over 10 million accounts on Vietnam’s traditional stock exchanges at the end of July 2025.
Binance is currently the largest centralised crypto exchange used by Vietnamese investors, with trading volume reportedly among the top 10 on the platform.
However, under a draft resolution being developed by the finance ministry and expected to be approved this year, foreign players can offer only services related to crypto assets in Vietnam through a number of licensed domestic organisations.
Vietnam plans to require these service providers to obtain licences and meet stringent conditions, including a minimum charter capital of 10 trillion dong (S$492.5 million), with at least 35 per cent collectively contributed by two institutions such as banks, securities firms, fund managers or insurers.
Various players have then joined the race for early advantage. On Aug 13, Vietnam’s MB and South Korea’s Dunamu announced a partnership to establish a digital asset trading platform in Vietnam. Earlier in May, Techcom Crypto Exchange Company was also established as part of the ecosystem of private lender Techcombank.
These centralised exchanges, generally not built on blockchain networks, would typically hold users’ crypto assets in custody, provide a platform for buying and selling tokens, and allow users to deposit and withdraw in fiat currencies.
Their integration opportunities with VBSN or NDAChain are also broad.
Thuat said that VBSN could serve as the foundational layer for tokenising real-world assets, such as bonds and equities, before they are listed on such platforms.
Meanwhile, Huy emphasised that NDAChain plays a critical role in underpinning KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) compliance, enabling secure onboarding of Vietnamese users and helping platforms meet regulatory requirements.
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