Vietnam Law on Digital Technology Industry: Digital-Asset Provisions

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.

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.

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.