Crypto Law Profile

Vietnam Law on Digital Technology Industry: Digital-Asset Provisions

Vietnam’s 2025 Digital Technology Industry Law defines digital assets, virtual and cryptographic asset categories, exclusions for securities and digital fiat, and Government-led management rules.

Vietnam Effective Act Jan 1, 2026

At a glance

Jurisdiction Vietnam national law covering digital assets within a wider digital technology industry framework.
Status In force from Jan. 1, 2026; Articles 11, 28 and 29 applied earlier on July 1, 2025.
Asset Categories Defines digital assets and identifies virtual, cryptographic and other digital assets.
Delegated Rules Government regulations determine management scope, service conditions and residual classifications.

Overview

Status: Vietnam’s Law on the Digital Technology Industry, No. 71/2025/QH15, is a national act that is in force from January 1, 2026. This profile focuses on Chapter V, the digital-asset chapter, rather than the law’s wider provisions on digital technology, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

The law gives Vietnam a statutory framework for digital assets by defining them as assets under the Civil Code that are represented as digital data and created, issued, stored, transferred or authenticated by digital technology in an electronic environment. It does not itself create a full licensing code for every crypto-asset activity. Instead, it sets baseline concepts and delegates detailed management rules to the Government.

Digital-asset definitions in Law No. 71/2025/QH15

Article 46 provides the core definition of a digital asset. The definition is broad enough to cover assets expressed through digital data, but it is anchored to Vietnam’s Civil Code concept of property. That approach is important for editorial treatment: the law recognizes a legal category, but the operational treatment of particular assets still depends on implementing rules and other Vietnamese civil, financial, cybersecurity and AML/CFT laws.

Article 47 divides digital assets by use purpose, technology and other criteria. It then identifies three categories:

  • Virtual assets: digital assets in an electronic environment that may be used for exchange or investment purposes.
  • Cryptographic assets: digital assets authenticated with cryptographic technology or digital technologies with similar functions during creation, issuance, storage or transfer.
  • Other digital assets: residual categories to be further classified under Government rules.

The statute expressly excludes securities, digital forms of fiat money and other financial assets governed by civil and finance laws from both the virtual-asset and cryptographic-asset categories. That carve-out is central to the law’s regulatory perimeter because it avoids treating all digitized financial instruments as crypto-style digital assets.

Management scope and crypto-asset services

Article 48 sets the management agenda for digital assets. It covers creation, issuance, storage, transfer and establishment of ownership rights. It also covers the rights and obligations of parties involved in digital-asset activity, inspection and examination powers, and handling of legal violations.

The same article directs future management rules to address cybersecurity, AML/CFT controls, counter-terrorist financing and measures against proliferation financing. It also refers to business conditions for the provision of cryptographic-asset services. The result is a framework-style provision: it signals that service providers and market infrastructure will be regulated, but it leaves detailed permissions, licensing processes and supervisory allocation to Government regulations.

Relationship to Vietnam’s crypto-asset pilot market

After the law was adopted, the Government issued Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP on a pilot market for cryptographic assets in Vietnam. Government reporting in January 2026 stated that the State Securities Commission had begun receiving applications for licenses to provide market-organization services for cryptographic assets under Ministry of Finance procedures. That pilot should be tracked as a related instrument rather than merged into Law No. 71 itself.

Status and implementation timeline

The official government record lists Law No. 71/2025/QH15 as issued on June 14, 2025, by the National Assembly, with a main effective date of January 1, 2026. Article 50 states that Articles 11, 28 and 29 took effect earlier, on July 1, 2025. Chapter V’s digital-asset provisions are not listed among those early-effective articles, so they are treated here as in force from January 1, 2026.

For CryptoSlate coverage, the key implementation watchpoint is the boundary between the statutory definitions in Chapter V and the separate Government-level instruments that set pilot market mechanics, licensing, service conditions and enforcement procedures. Readers should not treat this profile as legal or compliance advice.

Key provisions

Digital-asset property definition

Article 46 treats digital assets as Civil Code assets represented as digital data and created, issued, stored, transferred or authenticated by digital technology.

Regulatory perimeter Jan 1, 2026 Source

Virtual and cryptographic assets

Article 47 classifies virtual assets used for exchange or investment and cryptographic assets authenticated by cryptographic or similar digital technologies.

Asset classification Jan 1, 2026 Source

Financial-asset exclusions

Virtual and cryptographic assets exclude securities, digital forms of fiat money and other financial assets governed by civil and finance laws.

Scope exclusions Jan 1, 2026 Source

Management scope

Article 48 covers creation, issuance, storage, transfer, ownership establishment, party rights and obligations, inspections and violation handling.

Management powers Jan 1, 2026 Source

Security, AML/CFT and service conditions

Management rules must address cybersecurity, AML/CFT, proliferation-finance controls and business conditions for cryptographic-asset services.

AML/CFT licensing Jan 1, 2026 Source

Timeline

  1. Law adopted by National Assembly

    Vietnam’s 15th National Assembly adopted Law No. 71/2025/QH15 at its 9th session.

    Enacted Source
  2. Selected provisions became effective

    Articles 11, 28 and 29 took effect before the main effective date.

    Partially effective Source
  3. Crypto-asset pilot resolution issued

    The Government issued Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP on a pilot cryptographic-asset market.

    Effective Source
  4. Main law and Chapter V in force

    The law’s main effective date began; Chapter V digital-asset provisions are treated as in force.

    In force Source
  5. License filings began

    Government reporting said SSC began receiving crypto-asset market-service license applications.

    In force Source

Who it affects

Actors

Government of Vietnam, Ministry of Finance, State Securities Commission, Vietnam National Assembly

Asset classes

Cryptographic assets, Digital assets, Virtual assets

Official sources

Editorial note

This profile covers Chapter V digital-asset provisions of Law No. 71/2025/QH15, not the full digital technology, semiconductor or AI framework. Track Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP as a related pilot-market instrument.