Cryptocurrencies in Vietnam are no longer just a matter of price speculation, with demand expanding towards value transfer and storage, posing new challenges for the domestic market.

The global crypto market has undergone a sharp correction, but on-chain activity has not declined by a comparable amount. According to the 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index published by Chainalysis on September 23, market capitalization at one point fell by 50%, equivalent to $2.1 trillion, while the value of on-chain activity declined by just 1.6%, from $9.5 trillion to $9.4 trillion, over the two 12-month periods ending in June 2025 and June 2026.

The divergence suggests that crypto assets are being used for purposes beyond price speculation.

$122 billion market, stablecoins gain traction

In a regional report published on September 30, Chainalysis estimated that crypto asset activity in Vietnam reached $122.2 billion between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, ranking fourth in Central and Southern Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania, behind Singapore at $284.1 billion, Australia at $173.1 billion and India at $135 billion.

The significance lies not only in the market's size. Vietnam's Utility Index, which measures activity associated with practical use, rose 127% from the previous period, while its Financial Index, which tracks financial activity through platforms, fell 5%.

According to Chainalysis, the former reflects direct and cross-border asset transfers, while the latter captures financial activity conducted through platforms.

Notably, cross-border stablecoin activity in Vietnam reached about $10.5 billion, 1.5 times the domestic total of $6.9 billion. Stablecoins are crypto assets designed to maintain a stable value against a reference asset, typically the U.S. dollar.

Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines recorded 5.4 million direct asset transfers worth less than $10,000, accounting for 14.4% of the global total. More than 80% of domestic transfers in this category were below $1,000, with an average value of $618.

Chainalysis quoted Nicole Nguyen, co-founder of APAC DAO, as saying that some Vietnamese users hold stablecoins as a store of value linked to the U.S. dollar. Freelancers and people working across borders are also driving direct transactions.

Nevertheless, Chainalysis estimated that $69.8 billion in assets flowed from Vietnam into centralized exchanges, indicating that emerging use cases have yet to fully displace investment and speculative activity.

Exchange race: from capital raising to platform testing

In Vietnam, businesses are preparing infrastructure for a pilot phase. The government's Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP requires operators of crypto asset trading markets to have minimum paid-in charter capital of VND10 trillion ($386.58 million), along with requirements covering shareholders, technology and risk controls.

Among the prospective operators, Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (CAEX), part of the VPBank ecosystem, has taken concrete steps.

In April 2026, CAEX announced that OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital had signed investment and cooperation agreements with the company and its founding shareholders, VPBankS and LynkiD. The agreements aim to support technology development, security and liquidity.

At VPBank's 2026 annual general meeting, CEO Nguyen Duc Vinh said CAEX had fully contributed the required VND10 trillion ($386.58 million) in capital and completed an audit of its capital contributions, but had not yet received a licence to trade.

CAEX began testing its platform on September 6 and extended the program through September 25, restricting access to employees and selected partners. Its website continues to state that it is seeking a licence and has not officially opened trading.

Techcom Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (TCEX), which has capital contributions from Techcom Securities (TCBS), announced on May 5 that the Ministry of Finance had confirmed that certain groups of documents in its application were complete and valid, while requesting additional documents for the remaining sections. This did not constitute a licensing decision.

Among listed securities firms, VIX Securities has joined in establishing VIX Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (VIXEX), with initial charter capital of VND1 trillion ($38.66 million). VIX holds a 15% stake, FTG Vietnam owns 64.5% and 3C Company holds 20.5%.

VIX plans to use VND1 trillion from a share offering to make an additional capital contribution to VIXEX.

Sacom Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (SCEX), formerly known as LPEX, increased its charter capital from VND360 billion to VND5 trillion ($193.29 million) in August 2026, nearly 14-fold.

The company is also developing the SCEX Simulator platform as part of a digital asset education program, allowing users to trade with simulated funds rather than real money.

Outside the financial sector, Sun Group holds a 64% stake in Vietnam Digital Assets JSC, established in January 2026 with initial charter capital of VND1 trillion ($38.66 million).

Under Resolution 05, domestic investors who already own crypto assets may open accounts with organizations licensed by the Ministry of Finance to hold and trade those assets within the permitted scope. Six months after the first organization receives a licence, transactions conducted outside licensed systems may be subject to sanctions depending on the nature and severity of the violations.

However, the race to establish exchanges is only the first step. Another question is which assets can be issued and traded on these platforms.

In a recent article, Nguyen Huong Diu Ngan, an associate at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in Vietnam, proposed three potential areas for development: tokenizing trade finance, agricultural commodities and green infrastructure bonds.

One example is Argentina's Agrotoken model, which allows grain to be tokenized based on physical stocks verified in warehouses, helping producers gain access to credit.

The government's Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP restricts the underlying assets and eligible participants in new issuance programs. As a result, domestic exchanges must not only attract investors but also develop product offerings that comply with the law, have clearly identified underlying assets, and establish the rights of holders.

As domestic crypto exchanges race to raise trillions of dong (VND1 trillion = $38.66 million) and complete their technology infrastructure, the challenge extends beyond securing licences. More importantly, they must find products that meet market demand within the legal framework, turning circulating crypto assets into organized business activity.

The U.S. imports of Vietnamese pepper increased by 22.1% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2026 even as its purchases from other countries fell by as much as 17-59%.

Vietnam’s shipments amounted to 44,100 tons during the period, with value rising by 21% to US$331 million, according to the United States International Trade Commission.

In volume terms, Vietnam accounted for 80.4% of the U.S. imports of 54,900 tons, up from 69% a year ago.

Overall, the U.S. imported pepper worth $407 million in the seven months, up 5.4%.

Imports from two other major suppliers, Indonesia and India, declined by 59.3% and 17.2% in volume.

Shipments from Brazil and China rose 6.8% and 4.8%, but they accounted for only 4% and 0.9% of the supply.

Vietnam’s Agency for Foreign Trade said pepper exports to the U.S. rose thanks to steady supply, improved quality, and lower prices.

The average price of Vietnamese pepper fell marginally to $7,499 per ton while that of Indonesian exports went up 18% to $8,691.

Vietnam also offers a wide range of pepper products for different market segments, including whole black peppercorns catering to food manufacturers, ground pepper, white pepper, and packaged products for the restaurant and retail sectors, the agency added.

The Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association expected shipments to the U.S. to continue to rise in the remaining months of the year.

But businesses need to explore new processing methods to add value to their products while ensuring food safety, traceability, and quality, it added.

Vietnam completed 170 housing projects with 46,962 units and commenced construction on 128 others with a total of 183,293 units from the beginning of 2026.

The Ministry of Construction will continue to closely monitor the real estate market in the final quarter of 2026 and propose timely measures to stabilise the market and promote healthy, sustainable development, the ministry said at its regular press conference on October 15.

The ministry highlighted a 10.31% year-on-year increase in the construction sector’s value added during the first nine months of the year.

In real estate, Vietnam completed 170 projects with 46,962 units and commenced construction on 128 others with a total of 183,293 units from the beginning of 2026. Of the new units, 140,492 were social housing apartments, while 42,801 were rental units.

Nationwide, 947 social housing projects, comprising 910,933 units with a combined investment of approximately VND841.34 trillion ($32 billion), are currently under development. The number of social housing projects completed, launched or approved in principle has reached 91% of the target under the national programme to build at least one million social housing units by 2030.

Rental housing development has also made progress. A total of 114 social housing projects incorporating 63,970 rental units are under development. More than 8,300 rental units have been completed, equivalent to 48% of the annual plan. The ministry expects 18,049 units to be completed by the end of 2026, reaching 105% of the assigned target.

Meanwhile, 395km of expressways were completed and fully opened to traffic nationwide in the first nine months, bringing Vietnam’s total expressway network to 3,345km.