Vietnam's Department of E-Commerce and Information Technology has advised citizens against investing in or making transactions with digital currencies including bitcoin decentralised currency.
The issue of the warning by the national governmental structure was reported by the Vietnamese news portal NDH. The warning comes at the time when the number of complaints is increasing from investors and customers who became victims of fraud and Ponzi schemes. The article cites the ongoing regulatory processes in China, Russia and Thailand where bitcoin transactions are considered by the authorities as suspicious.
The Vietnam e-Commerce and Information Technology Agency has its head office in Hanoi under the direct control of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and exercises regulatory and enforcement functions in e-commerce, development and application of information technology.
Bitcoin has been on the rise in Vietnam recently. The partnership between Coinify and Bitcoin Vietnam enabled Vietnamese merchants to directly accept payments in the digital currency. Earlier in September 2015, Bitcoin Vietnam launched a new exchange VBTC to increase the domestic bitcoin liquidity base and facilitate remittance services in the country.
The State Bank of Vietnam published a statement on Bitcoin in late February 2014, declaring that bitcoin is not a legal tender in Vietnam. However, as Dominik Weil told CoinFox, it by no means makes bitcoin illegal. According to him, the government agencies including State Bank of Vietnam and Department of Public Security have been looking into the cryptocurrency for some time. Regarding bitcoin adoption, Vietnam allegedly is still on the very early stage.
Last year, after the complaints filed with the police about virtual currencies Ponzi schemes, the Hong Kong monetary and banking government authority warned people against investing in bitcoin, citing the potential threat of fraud. In January 2016, China's Central Bank in an official statement advised citizens against the Russian Ponzi scheme founded by Sergey Mavrodi and using bitcoin digital currency.
Sonya Belova
