Vietnam and Austria are turning a high-level regulatory dialogue into a practical channel for crypto oversight as Hanoi prepares to license domestic digital-asset service providers for the first time. During a Sept. 15 meeting in Vienna, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi and Austrian Financial Market Authority Executive Director Mariana Kühnel led discussions that combined financial-market supervision with Vietnam's push to build a supervised crypto market.
Chi said Vietnam has a pilot legal framework in place and expects the first licensed crypto-asset service providers to begin operating in 2026. The State Securities Commission is developing supervision covering service providers and investor transactions, using Financial Action Task Force recommendations and focusing on risk management, client asset protection and anti-money-laundering controls. SSC Chairwoman Vu Thi Chan Phuong underlined that work.
The licensing process formally opened in January, when the Ministry of Finance introduced administrative procedures for issuing, adjusting and revoking crypto trading platform licenses. Applicants must be Vietnamese enterprises with at least 10 trillion dong, roughly $383 million, in paid-in charter capital. At least 65% of capital must come from institutional shareholders, more than 35% must be supplied by at least two qualifying organizations, and foreign investors cannot hold more than 49% of an exchange under the pilot. By Aug. 30, five companies had passed an initial assessment, but no final exchange license had been issued.
Several financial groups are positioning for regulated operations. VPBank-linked CAEX secured backing from OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital in April, while SSI Digital Technology signed an agreement with South Korean exchange Bithumb to explore digital-asset exchange infrastructure covering technology, custody, security, risk and compliance. In May, Chi indicated the first official regulated market activity could begin as early as the third quarter of 2026, but regulators have repeatedly said passing the assessment does not authorize trading.
Vietnam introduced its five-year pilot through Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP in September 2025. New enforcement rules under Decree No. 284/2026/ND-CP took effect Sept. 1, setting fines of 180 million to 200 million dong for unauthorized crypto services or exchange advertising, and 30 million to 50 million dong for trading outside licensed platforms. Domestic investors will have a six-month transition period that begins only after the first license is issued, meaning the countdown had not started as of Aug. 30.
Austria's FMA, created in 2002, already supervises crypto-asset service providers under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. Kühnel noted many relevant rules are set at EU level and proposed using the International Organization of Securities Commissions as a standing forum, plus remote technical meetings. Chi endorsed that approach. No formal memorandum of understanding was announced, but the two sides agreed to turn general information-sharing into practical technical cooperation while Vietnam completes its rulebook.
