More than 90 percent of tokens created in the 2020-2022 period have lost value or ceased operation.

Resolution No05 on piloting a tokenized asset market in Vietnam, issued by the government and effective from September 9, still leaves many points unclear to the community. VietNamNet spoke with Phan Duc Trung, chair of the Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Asset Association (VBA), to clarify these issues.

How do you evaluate the introduction of Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP, particularly the licensing of domestic businesses to provide trading market services and offer or issue tokenized assets?

Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP on piloting a tokenized asset market in Vietnam is a swift and timely move. The state has identified RWA, or tokenized real assets, as the key focus to promote. This is not only a trend in Vietnam but a global movement.

According to a 2023 report by Boston Consulting Group and Ripple, the RWA market could reach nearly $19 trillion, equivalent to 10 percent of global GDP by 2033. So it can be said that Vietnam has chosen the right path by introducing RWA in the pilot phase.

The key point is that this mechanism will enhance liquidity for existing assets in Vietnam, from real estate and infrastructure to commodities, while opening opportunities to directly access international investors instead of relying solely on traditional stock markets. In other words, Vietnam has seized a major trend projected to grow explosively in the coming years.

However, for this market to develop sustainably, two prerequisites are needed, including liquidity and transparency. Blockchain enables transparency and rapid traceability of each transaction. The 24/7 trading feature is only truly attractive when there is connectivity and a secondary market is formed, something that many investors in Vietnam are waiting for, but which I haven't seen clearly in this resolution.

The resolution stipulates that only Vietnamese enterprises with minimum charter capital of VND10,000 billion can be licensed. Some argue this could hand the market over to large corporations, shutting out smaller businesses. What is your view?

I don’t think the opportunity is closed to smaller businesses.

First, startups and small andmedium enterprises (SMEs) can still participate in the digital asset market, especially in innovation hubs or financial centers that the government is planning, such as the international financial center in Da Nang or HCMC.

This is a reasonable step, as Vietnam is internationally recognized as a country actively promoting innovation and has already established legal frameworks to support it. Startups and businesses should proactively approach these zones to get policy support.

Second, for large enterprises, setting a minimum charter capital of VND10,000 billion reflects a cautious approach by the government. Looking back to 1996, the average charter capital of a Vietnamese bank was only about VND100 billion, but today many banks have surpassed tens of thousands of billions. This shows the scale of the economy has grown significantly, and the government’s strategy to initially attract large corporations is appropriate.

Large enterprises not only ensure operational capacity but can also cooperate and pave the way for smaller businesses to participate in the secondary market.

The digital asset market is different from the stock market. While the stock market in Vietnam only has three official exchanges (including Upcom), the digital asset market can be driven by a few major players on the primary market, who can then collaborate with smaller businesses in either the secondary market or through joint ventures, offering specific products and services.

The resolution also requires domestic issuance and offering of digital assets to be based solely on real-world assets, and transactions must be settled in Vietnamese dong. Will this limit the development of the digital asset market in Vietnam?

For businesses, there are currently three main capital mobilization channels: the stock market, bond issuance, and bank credit. Adding tokenized RWA as a new funding channel will open up new opportunities, even for smaller businesses that are not yet eligible to list.

Regarding transactions in Vietnamese dong, this may be a temporary but necessary restriction to maintain monetary policy stability and control the balance of payments. Many countries have adopted similar approaches in early stages, later expanding to foreign currencies or other assets. Singapore and Japan are two notable examples, both had strict controls initially and only loosened them once the market matured and investors were better trained.

Thai Khang