The Currency analytics
By Jean-Luc Maracon
Cryptocurrency is crashing hard in Vietnam.
Local startups are bearing the brunt, with layoffs mounting and funding drying up. The country had 17 million digital asset holders at the beginning of 2025, ranking just behind…
Nguyen Thanh runs a crypto startup in Hanoi. He doesn't mince words: "It's a nightmare for all of us.
Regulators remain silent for now. They are watching, analyzing, but not announcing anything concrete. The sector is waiting for answers that aren't coming.
Even international giants are feeling the impact. Binance and Coinbase are seeing their Vietnamese operations plunge, with trading volumes dropping week after week.
On February 15, 2026, Le Minh Khai held a press conference in Hanoi. The Finance Minister expressed his concerns: "We must act cautiously to protect our citizens.
BitHanoi suspended operations on February 14.
The platform, one of the country's largest, chose to temporarily halt transactions rather than let panic set in.
The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange is not immune to the contagion. On February 17, shares of tech companies linked to crypto plunged by an average of 12%.
Tran Quoc Vu was leading CryptoViet, a startup that was doing quite well before. He laid off 40% of his staff on February 18.
A group of institutional investors requested a meeting with the Ministry of Justice on February 19.
The numbers continue to plummet. A report from the State Bank on February 20 shows a 25% drop in crypto deposits since the start of the crisis.
VNExchange has lost 30% of new registrations since the crisis began, according to a statement on February 22.
Deputy Tran Duc Thao expressed concern for young entrepreneurs during a parliamentary session on February 23: "Many of them have staked their future on this industry.
The Vietnam Association of Technology Enterprises has already recorded 23 permanent closures since early February, mainly affecting startups less than two years old.