Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the establishment of a legal body that will manage cryptocurrencies and digital assets in Vietnam.
Relevant ministries and agencies will be assigned to draft laws and regulations covering these sectors over the next three years, according to Saigon Times.
The new plan aims to define and determine the nature of cryptocurrency and digital assets, as well as to establish the relationship between digital and real currency and assets. A cryptocurrency, according to Investopedia, is a virtual currency that uses codes for security. The most well-known cryptocurrency at the moment is Bitcoin, which was launched in 2009.
The Ministry of Justice will review the current laws regarding cryptocurrencies and digital assets in order to ascertain their relevance and identify ones that are no longer appropriate.
The ministry will also study current laws on cryptocurrencies and digital assets in the US, the EU and Japan, while also organizing seminars on these subjects. After this process is completed, it will provide suggestions to the Prime Minister on the creation of new laws in this field in 2018, the news source reports.
The State Bank of Vietnam will be in charge of proposing measures to fight fraud; money laundering; the financing of terrorism and other digital asset; and cryptocurrency-related crimes. These proposals should be submitted by 2019, the news source adds.
If all goes as planned, it is expected that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will become legal in Vietnam as soon as 2019, according to VietnamNews.
Bitcoin, the first and most popular cryptocurrency has been particularly successful worldwide, having gone from a value of US$1,000 each to now being worth more than gold, as reported by Futurism.
