Bitcoin supporters are once again invigorated after Vietnam closed 86 million bank accounts that failed to comply with facial biometric authentication regulations.
Several Vietnamese media outlets, including Vietnam+, reported in July that over 86 million bank accounts began to be closed on September 1, while the remaining 113 million bank accounts were verified under new biometric laws aimed at preventing fraud and money laundering.
A Reddit user named "Yukzor," who was a foreign contractor in Vietnam, stated that the implementation of the new law required him to personally fly back to the country to prevent his HSBC account from being closed, with no remote solution available.
"In 2025, you won't be able to transfer your own funds; you must fly to a country to resolve issues. Doesn't that sound ridiculous?" he wrote earlier this month. "Worse yet, they said if I don't fly back this month to update my biometric information, they will close my account."
Bitcoin supporters have long argued that people should be able to freely control their funds without government or external interference.
"If users do not comply with the regulations by September 30, they will lose their funds. This is exactly why we choose Bitcoin," Bitcoin industry commentator Marty Bent pointed out on Thursday. Cointelegraph could not confirm whether customer funds would be unrecoverable after September 30.
However, Bent emphasized in another article published on TFTC on Thursday that similar punitive capital controls have occurred in Lebanon, Turkey, Venezuela, Cyprus, Nigeria, India, and many other countries since the advent of Bitcoin, stating that it is "naive to think Vietnam will be the last country to implement such measures."
This harsh measure—described by Bitcoin environmentalist Daniel Batten as granting the State Bank of Vietnam "next-generation financial monitoring capabilities"—clearly demonstrates why permissionless monetary protocols like Bitcoin are crucial for preventing excessive state intervention.
"Once you correctly use Bitcoin as your bank, you don't have to worry about your country's government or central bank suddenly deciding to impose biometric verification requirements on you," Bent noted.
Vietnam has seen an increasing number of cases in recent years where generative AI and sophisticated deception techniques have been used to bypass security measures like live detection, leading to the introduction of new biometric measures.
In May of this year, local law enforcement successfully dismantled a money laundering network that operated using AI, which reportedly laundered up to 1 trillion Vietnamese dong (39 million USD) through the use of forged facial scanning technology.
The State Bank of Vietnam issued a notice at the end of June requiring bank customers to complete their initial facial biometric authentication and to re-authenticate when making online transfers exceeding 10 million Vietnamese dong (379 USD).
Additionally, cumulative transaction amounts exceeding 20 million Vietnamese dong (758 USD) will also require biometric authentication.
However, a cryptocurrency executive based in Vietnam told Cointelegraph in an interview that this news may be overstated, as most local residents are not actually affected. He pointed out that these changes primarily impact foreign residents holding inactive accounts.
"This is clearly not an event that has caused widespread discontent among the local population," the executive stated. Herbert Sim, the Chief Marketing Officer of AICEAN currently in Vietnam, revealed to Cointelegraph that this issue particularly affects foreigners who have left Vietnam, users with temporary or inactive accounts, and those with forgotten accounts. "One-time passwords and mobile binding require in-person biometric verification, which is a significant barrier," Sim, also known as the "Bitcoin Knight," said.
Related: Crypto Analyst: Bitcoin (BTC) Could Face a 70% Drawdown in the Next Bear Market
Original article: “Why We Choose Bitcoin (BTC) — Vietnam Closes 86 Million Bank Accounts Without Biometric Authentication”
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