In Vietnam, when it comes to blockchain, people often think of virtual currency such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. But in fact virtual currency is just the first and most popular application of blockchain technology. Blockchain technology can be applied in innumerable domains, one of which is blockchain-based smart contracts. Smart contracts have been developed and are used in a variety of fields such as finance, banking, supply chain, healthcare, education, transportation, etc. The questions now are: what is the legality of smart contracts, can Vietnam’s contract law be applied to smart contracts, and in the future do we need to revise the current legal system to regulate smart contracts? This article will focus on analyzing, evaluating and clarifying the above issues.

The number of criminal cases showing signs of money laundering in Vietnam is on a rapid increase, reaching over 11,000 cases per year on average. In some cases, the appropriated money amount mounts to trillions of Vietnam dong. Every day, the Anti-Money Laundering Department of the State Bank of Vietnam receives, analyzes and processes thousands of reports on suspicious transactions.

Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a new issue of interest of most central banks and economists and lawmakers in the world. In short, CBDC is a generic term for a version of currency that could use an electronic record or digital token to represent the digital form of a nation’s currency. CBDC is issued and managed directly by the central bank and could be circulated like a traditional currency. This article discusses CBDC’s economic and legal aspects, including CBDC technologies, its advantages and downsides and possible legal reforms for issuance of CBDC.

For the time being, there has been no unified definition of “cryptoasset” or “digital asset” or “virtual asset” in the world. According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, “a virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, or transferred, and can be used for payment or investment purposes.”[1] Canada’s model legislation regarding digital assets, the Uniform Access to Digital Assets by Fiduciaries Act, defines “a digital asset” as “a record that is created, recorded, transmitted or stored in digital or other intangible form by electronic, magnetic or optical means or by any other similar means.”[2] Cryptocurrency (or virtual currency) is a form of cryptoassets (or virtual assets). There is also no unified definition of this term in the world.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution helps create new products and services as well as business models in an open atmosphere without any distance between the reality and cyber space. However, Vietnam’s existing legal framework still fails to meet the demand for realizing these products, services and models. It is not yet mature for the application of novel forms of raising funds from angel investors or venture investment funds. So far, there is no legal corridor for innovative startups, particularly fintech ones. This article introduces new fundraising channels and their legal challenges and puts forward recommendations for formulating a regulatory sandbox applicable to these channels.

The fourth industrial revolution has brought about numerous opportunities and posed great challenges[1] to the society in general and criminal justice in particular as there are numerous important fields directly and deeply impacted by this revolution[2]. This requires a fresh perception of criminal policies, including criminalization and decriminalization policies, as well as a new approach in the prevention and combat of newly emerging crimes, which must be based on the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the State’s overall socio-economic and international integration policies and regulations[3], historical-traditional conditions and crime prevention and combat practice. The globalization of criminal jurisdiction also requires the State to develop new criminal policies and reorganize the criminal justice system in order to clearly identify, effectively prevent, respond to and combat newly emerging crimes, particularly those against the national security and sovereignty, social order and safety, human and citizens’ rights.

To minimize risks of using cryptocurrencies for crimes, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, illegal transfer of money, tax evasion and trade fraud, the Prime Minister on April 11 issued Directive 10/CT-TTg to enhance the management of activities related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies like ethereum, ripple and litecoin have become a hot topic among investors. But let’s set aside the worries and excitement and ask a question: are cryptocurrencies lawful in Vietnam?

The Ministry of Justice is building a draft scheme on improving the legal framework for management and handling of virtual property, e-money and virtual currencies to be presented to the Government.

Bitcoins and other virtual currency units are not legal currencies and cannot be used as lawful payment instruments in Vietnam, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) officially stated on February 27. It also outlawed all bitcoin transactions in the country.