Vietnam considers trial of state-backed cryptocurrency

The Vietnamese government has ordered its central bank to study virtual money using blockchain technology over three years amid rising domestic interest in this type of currency.

The State Bank of Vietnam will be in charge of studying and trialing the use of virtual money from this year until 2023 as part of key objects in mastering core technologies, in accordance to a government decision, VN Express reported.

For now, cryptocurrencies remain an illegal means of transaction in Vietnam. However, the trading of Bitcoin and the like is popular with many investors using foreign platforms and social media to make money from this asset.

So far, there is no definition of cryptocurrency under the laws of Vietnam. Nevertheless, cryptocurrencies seem to be heavily used, a survey by Statista, a global provider of market and consumer data, revealed.

In the survey, 21 per cent of respondents in Vietnam said that they used or owned cryptocurrency in 2020, second after Nigeria (32 per cent) and ahead of the Philippines (20 per cent).

In the Philippines, the central bank has allowed the use of crypto exchanges for remittances and money transfers, partly to make it easier and cheaper for the vast number of Overseas Filipino Workers to send money home which is in the interest of the government.

In Singapore, using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is also legal and quite popular, whereby the prices are not controlled by the government. For some cases, the use of Bitcoin is taxable.

Japan is known as the hub of cryptocurrency trading all over Asia. The country has always been at the forefront of technological advancements. Hence, Japan is one of the initial countries that have adopted cryptocurrencies and their trading, and it was reportedly also a Japanese – going under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto – who invented Bitcoin. However, crypto trading  is clearly regulated in Japan.