Urgent need to complete a transparent and secure legal framework for digital assets

The fact that the Hanoi Police Investigation Agency prosecuted and detained Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh), Chairman of NextTech Group, on charges of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences" in the AntEx cryptocurrency project has attracted great public attention.

The incident occurred at the same time that the Government issued Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP on piloting the crypto asset market, showing the urgency of forming a transparent legal corridor to protect investors and control risks from new financial models.

Before Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP was issued, the issuance and trading of crypto assets in Vietnam almost took place in a legal gray area - not prohibited but not recognized either.

According to experts, this puts both investors and technology businesses at high legal risk when disputes arise.

According to Mr. Phan Duc Trung, Chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Assets Association (VBA), Vietnam currently has about 17 million people holding crypto assets, ranking 7th globally.

“Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP is a necessary step to bring the market out of its spontaneous state, creating a legal basis to help the State manage more transparently,” said Mr. Trung.

Mr. Trung said that the pilot helps to separate legal activities from disguised fraudulent and multi-level marketing models.

However, Mr. Trung warned that when the market has a legal framework, fraudulent groups will not disappear but will move to more sophisticated forms. Therefore, it is necessary to soon complete the mechanism to protect investors, clearly stipulate standards on financial capacity and technological understanding when participating in transactions.

Issued on September 9, 2025, Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP allows a 5-year pilot of the crypto asset market. This is the first time that digital assets have been recognized by Vietnamese law as legal assets, equivalent to movable and immovable property under the Civil Code.

The resolution allows the formation of licensed domestic exchanges, separates domestic and foreign investors, and encourages the development of real asset (RWA) tokenization - a trend that is expanding globally.

According to Lawyer Truong Anh Tu, Chairman of Truong Anh Tu Law Firm (TAT Law Firm), this is a pivotal change. “From a spontaneous market, the state has now proactively managed it through legal mechanisms, helping to minimize risks and increase transparency,” Mr. Tu said.

Mr. Tu emphasized that the biggest challenges now are technical infrastructure, licensing processes and independent auditing mechanisms.

“Crypto assets operate entirely on a digital platform, so security and real-time traceability are prerequisites,” Mr. Tu stated.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SBLAW Law Firm, said that Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP is a breakthrough after many years of Vietnam "struggling" in the gray area.

When the Government allows the establishment of digital asset exchanges, businesses will have the opportunity to develop legally, and management agencies will have the basis to collect taxes and protect investors' rights.

Mr. Ha said that it is necessary to quickly train human resources specialized in blockchain technology in both the public and private sectors. “Good management must go hand in hand with technological understanding; otherwise, the legal framework will have difficulty catching up with reality,” Mr. Ha said.

From the perspective of state management, Mr. To Tran Hoa - Deputy Head of the Securities Market Development Department (State Securities Commission) said that the global crypto asset market size has exceeded 4,270 billion USD and could reach 10,000 billion USD by 2030. This is a great opportunity but also poses the problem of risk management.

Mr. Hoa emphasized that Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP and Resolution 222/2025/QH15 on the Vietnam International Financial Center are two key legal foundations.

According to regulations, domestic digital asset exchanges must be licensed by the Ministry of Finance ; 6 months after the first exchange operates, any transactions outside the system will be handled depending on the level of violation.

Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission Bui Hoang Hai also said that Vietnam is on the right track when choosing a method of both management and creation. Risks cannot be avoided, but opportunities for innovation cannot be missed. The important thing is to control the safety level of the system, Mr. Bui Hoang Hai stated his opinion.

From the AntEx case to the pilot policy of Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP, we can see a common point: technological innovation always goes hand in hand with legal risks. Blockchain technology, without supervision, is very easy to exploit for property appropriation. But if management is rigid, Vietnam may lose the opportunity to participate in the global digital economic flow.

Experts agree that piloting crypto assets is not only an investment opportunity, but also a “test” of state management capacity in the digital age. A “controlled opening” approach is needed – encouraging innovation, but at the same time protecting people, ensuring order and financial security.

As the legal corridor gradually improves, Vietnam will no longer be left out of the digital asset game, but will move towards building a transparent, safe and responsible market - where technology truly serves economic development and life.

Returning to the AntEx cryptocurrency project, on October 14, Hanoi City Police initiated a case related to the AntEx cryptocurrency project with defendant Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) and 9 accomplices.

From August to November 2021, this group issued 33.2 billion tokens, raising 4.5 million USD (equivalent to 117 billion VND) from about 30,000 investors. The investigation agency has temporarily seized and frozen assets of about 900 billion VND, including money, gold, real estate and many related devices.

The AntEx project was expected to develop the stablecoin VNDT, but after a short time, the AntEx token lost more than 99% of its value, causing investors to suffer heavy losses.

Afterwards, project members openly denounced each other on social networks, forcing the Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi City Police to investigate./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/cap-bach-hoan-thien-khung-phap-ly-minh-bach-an-toan-cho-tai-san-so-post1072757.vnp