VIETNAM Trends and Developments
Legal Issues Regarding Cryptocurrency in Vietnam A review of the current legal regulations shows that Vietnamese law does not have a clear and complete legal framework to govern cryptocur- rency and there remain many legal issues related to this area of law that have yet to be resolved. At present, it can be said that cryptocurrency is situated in the Vietnamese “legal gap”, as it is neither banned nor recognised by the law. Currently, there are four fields of law in Vietnam related to cryptocurrency, as outlined below. Monetary and Banking Law Cryptocurrency is not a lawful means of pay- ment in Vietnam. The issuance, supply, and use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment is a prohibited act, according to Article 1.2 of Decree No 80/2016/ND-CP dated 1 July 2016, which amended and supplemented parts of Decree No 101/2012/ND-CP dated 22 November 2012, concerning non-cash payments. Further, issuing, supplying, and using illegal means of payment will be subject to adminis- trative penalties, ranging from VND50,000,000 to VND100,000,000 according to Article 26.6.d of Decree No 88/2019/ ND-CP dated 14 Novem- ber 2019, related to administrative sanctions for violations in the field of monetary and banking. Civil Law Cryptocurrency is not currently considered an asset/property in Vietnam. Article 105.1 of the Civil Code defines property as follows: property includes objects, money, valuable papers, and property rights. According to this article and related provisions, property only exists in four forms:
• An object is a part of the physical world that exists in solid, liquid, or gas form, and has unique features and characteristics that humans can manage, exploit, and use, such as gold, silver, vehicles, land, and houses. • Money is a means of payment issued by and protected by the state to evaluate, exchange, and pay for other types of property. Money includes domestic and foreign currency. • Valuable papers are evidence confirming a debt repayment obligation between an organisation licensed to issue valuable papers and the owner of the valuable papers within a certain period of time, including conditions for payment of interest and other conditions. Valuable papers include government bonds, corporate bonds, stocks, bills of exchange, promissory notes, and cheques. • Property rights are rights that can be valued in money, including property rights to the subjects of intellectual property, land use rights, and other property rights such as sur- face rights, and usufruct rights. Accordingly, as cryptocurrency does not belong to one of the four categories mentioned above, it is not considered property under the law. Therefore, owning, using, buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrency as a property will bring substantial risks to owners and participants of cryptocurrency transactions as they are not rec- ognised or protected by the law. At the same time, because there are no clear legal regulations on cryptocurrency, it causes many difficulties for the competent authorities in resolving disputes regarding cryptocurrency. Disputes related to cryptocurrency that often arise include owner- ship of cryptocurrency, buying and selling cryp- tocurrency, borrowing cryptocurrency, inheriting cryptocurrency, and compensation for damage in cryptocurrency transactions.
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