Vietnam crypto fines: What you need to know about penalties and enforcement

When you trade or hold crypto in Vietnam, a country that bans crypto as payment but doesn’t fully outlaw ownership. Also known as Vietnamese cryptocurrency regulations, the rules here are strict, unclear, and enforced with real consequences—like fines up to 150 million VND (about $6,000 USD) for simple violations. Unlike China or the U.S., Vietnam doesn’t have a clear law that says "crypto is illegal." But it does say crypto can’t be used to pay for goods or services. And if you’re caught doing it—even once—you could be fined.

That’s where crypto fines, penalties handed out by Vietnam’s State Bank and tax authorities for violating payment rules come in. These aren’t warnings. They’re real. People have been fined for using Bitcoin to buy phones, for running crypto-to-fiat exchanges without a license, or even for promoting crypto services online. The government tracks transactions through banks and payment processors. If you send money to a foreign exchange like Binance or Bybit and it looks like you’re buying crypto for spending, not holding, you’re on their radar.

What makes this worse is that crypto enforcement, the way Vietnam’s authorities monitor and punish violations without clear public guidelines feels random. One person gets a fine for a $500 trade. Another trades $50,000 and walks away. There’s no official list of what’s allowed. No public court cases. No appeals process. It’s all done quietly through local tax offices and police. That uncertainty is the biggest risk—not the law itself, but the fact that no one knows where the line is.

And while owning crypto isn’t illegal, mining is. If you’re running a rig in your apartment, you’re breaking the rules. If you’re using a Vietnamese bank account to fund a crypto purchase, you’re risking your account being frozen. Even using a VPN to access foreign exchanges doesn’t protect you—banks flag those transfers. The government knows. They’ve been watching since 2017.

What you’ll find in the posts below aren’t guides on how to avoid detection. They’re real stories from people who got caught, exchanges that got shut down, and the quiet shifts in policy that make Vietnam one of the most unpredictable places to hold crypto in Asia. You’ll see how fines are applied, who gets targeted, and why even long-term holders aren’t safe. No fluff. No theory. Just what’s happening on the ground.