Written by: Wu Says Blockchain

This interview features Thanh Le, CEO of G98 and founder of Ninety Eight, providing a long-term local perspective on the overall evolution of the Vietnamese crypto market. Based on his firsthand experience since entering the industry in 2017, the interview discusses how the Vietnamese crypto ecosystem has gradually transitioned from an early high-risk, low-awareness phase to an increasingly mature market with active user participation and a developing regulatory framework. Ninety Eight, starting in Vietnam, is building practical Web3 products, including multi-chain wallets and DeFi tools; through the joint venture G98 established with the local group G-Group, these technologies are being adapted and deployed locally, leveraging local infrastructure to support the rollout of digital asset-related products and services in the Vietnamese market.

Video and text content only represent the interviewee's views and do not represent Wu Says' views, nor do they constitute any investment or financial advice. Audio transcription completed by GPT may contain errors; please listen to the complete podcast on Xiaoyuzhou, YT, etc.

From "Scam Narrative" to National Strategy: Eight Years of Transition in the Vietnamese Crypto Market

Wu Says Ivan: Today we are very honored to invite Thanh Le, founder of Ninety Eight and CEO of G98, to discuss the evolution of the Vietnamese crypto market from a long-term local perspective. Our first question today is: Thanh Le, what prompted you to enter the crypto industry? Public information shows that you entered the industry in 2017 — from your perspective, what are the most critical changes and turning points that the Vietnamese crypto market has undergone in the nearly past decade?

Thanh Le: I feel quite fortunate because I started to engage with and participate in Vietnam's crypto industry quite early. Of course, there are many who got started earlier than me, more OG. But from 2017 to now, nearly eight years, has been a very important process of learning and growth for me.

During this period, I have witnessed the evolution of the Vietnamese crypto industry and community. Initially, the market was filled with scam projects, and cryptocurrencies were hardly viewed as an asset; many people considered Bitcoin just a scam. However, over time, the world gradually began to regard cryptocurrencies as a new asset class, and Bitcoin was recognized more and more as "digital gold." Meanwhile, there have been significant changes domestically in Vietnam. In the last year or two, the national attitude towards the crypto industry has begun to shift toward support, and the regulatory environment has seen substantial progress.

I believe that 2025 will be an important turning point. Policy documents like Resolution No. 05 have already clearly released signals that a clearer framework will be established to support the development of the crypto industry in the future. For me, witnessing the industry transition from being misunderstood to more and more Vietnamese people starting to build products aimed at the global market, and then receiving formal support at the national level, is a tremendous shift and a very valuable experience for me.

High Engagement Market Portrait: Scale, Activity, and Entry Paths of Vietnamese Crypto Users

Wu Says Ivan: From a broader perspective, what is the current scale of the Vietnamese crypto market overall? Approximately how many users are there, what is the trading activity like, and what is the level of cryptocurrency adoption in Vietnam? What is the current competitive landscape for exchanges in Vietnam?

Thanh Le: I do not have very precise numbers at hand, but the overall situation is clear. Although the data provided by different research institutions varies, the general direction is basically consistent. For example, according to Chainalysis, Vietnam has consistently ranked among the top five countries globally in cryptocurrency adoption over the past three years, making it one of the most active countries in holding and using crypto assets. From publicly available data, Vietnam's crypto asset ownership rate has maintained over 20% in the long term, indicating that local users have formed a stable and genuine demand for this asset class. Another study by Chainalysis also pointed out that approximately 20 million Vietnamese people hold cryptocurrencies, which in itself reflects the market's level of activity.

When looking at trading behavior, regardless of whether it's Binance, OKX, or Bybit, Vietnam has long been among the most active markets globally, especially concerning centralized exchanges. These data align closely with my actual feelings in the local community: a large number of retail users continuously open accounts and trade frequently, leading to high community activity. Moreover, in the past three years, the number of Vietnamese users utilizing DeFi protocols has clearly increased. An observable change is that more and more leading blockchain projects worldwide have begun establishing representatives in Vietnam and promoting educational activities, particularly in universities to popularize blockchain technology.

In summary, from the user, trading, or builder perspectives, the Vietnamese crypto ecosystem has continued to mature over the past few years and remains highly active today, contributing a substantial user base and traffic to the industry.

Wu Says Ivan: From your perspective, the entire country is quite supportive of the crypto industry; in this context, where do Vietnamese users typically start when entering the crypto world for the first time: exchanges, wallets, communities/KOLs, or through friends? What are their most typical usage scenarios?

Thanh Le: In my view, different generations have different ways of entering the crypto industry. For my generation, many people first encountered the crypto world through Bitcoin; some started with mining, others simply held mainstream coins and gradually delved deeper into this field. There are also some who do not directly buy coins but initially enter through online earning opportunities, such as accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for services, which has also become their entry point into the crypto industry. Looking at the recent cycles, in 2021, a large number of users entered the crypto world through GameFi and DeFi, while in the past year or two, many have started to pay attention and participate due to meme coins.

However, regardless of how the mainstream narratives change in each cycle, one thing remains unchanged: the dissemination of the crypto industry still highly relies on word of mouth. Many people gradually understand and enter this field through friends, followed KOLs, or discussions within the community.

This also explains why in Vietnam, most users initially start using crypto products from centralized exchanges. Therefore, when the government promotes related regulations, prioritizing the regulation of centralized exchanges seems to me to be a very realistic and reasonable path.

Wu Says Ivan: So, what do you observe about the profile of Vietnamese users? For example, what are the characteristics regarding the age groups, risk preferences, speed of acceptance of new narratives, and their habits of being "more inclined to CEX or more decentralized"?

Thanh Le: About four years ago, Vietnamese crypto users were still more familiar with centralized exchanges. If you wanted to introduce a new token to them, it often required that the token must first be listed on the mainstream exchanges that they were already using and had already deposited funds into, otherwise, users would find it very hard to truly engage or understand. However, in recent years, I have noticed a significant change. More and more people actively learn how to use crypto products and understand the logic behind DeFi and different protocols. They are no longer just passive users; they are trying to utilize these tools to build their own investment strategies.

Overall, Vietnamese users remain a group with a higher risk preference, and many still tend to seek high-risk, high-reward opportunities rather than only making conservative investments. This is somewhat related to the previous lack of clear regulations. In a long-term high-risk environment, those with larger capital bases and higher compliance requirements often choose to wait and have not entered the crypto market on a large scale.

As new regulatory frameworks gradually take shape, I believe that the user structure entering the crypto market will become more diversified, with different groups having varying risk preferences. However, looking back at those who entered the industry in 2017 or even earlier, a significant portion of them are still high-risk seekers, but their overall understanding has noticeably improved — they no longer limit themselves to exchange trading and have begun to engage more with DeFi and other complex crypto financial activities.

Regulatory Logic in the New Crypto Era: Conservative Promotion and Support

Wu Says Ivan: Speaking of regulation, what is the current regulatory situation in Vietnam? Does the government's overall attitude lean more towards encouragement, prohibition, or neutrality? What key points should we pay attention to in the future?

Thanh Le: This is a very direct question. From my personal observation, the regulatory framework currently being promoted in Vietnam is generally "conservative but clearly supportive in direction." From a national strategy perspective, Vietnam has explicitly listed blockchain as one of the key technologies of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" and as a core technology direction for development from 2025 to 2030. This means that blockchain is regarded as an important area worth continuous investment in the long-term development plan.

Because of this, I believe the starting point of regulation is not to suppress the industry, but rather to promote the industry's gradual growth and achieve broader applications under compliance. However, since the crypto and blockchain technologies are still relatively new, both the public and regulatory authorities are still refining their understanding of risks, leading to a relatively cautious approach during the initial stages of regulation. Specifically, in the early stages, only a limited number of licenses may be issued, and related services will open up in a step-by-step manner, for example, starting with spot trading, and requiring pricing in Vietnamese Dong (VND). Subsequently, the regulatory authorities will gradually relax more business operations based on market performance.

But overall, I believe the government’s goal is clear: to develop blockchain into a strategically significant core technology that supports and drives the overall economic development of Vietnam. This has been consistently and clearly stated at the official level.

Projects and Ecosystem of the New Cycle: Has the Vietnamese Market Become Quiet Due to the Bear Market?

Wu Says Ivan: From the perspective of user preferences, what are the projects/fields that Vietnamese retail investors like most (BTC/ETH, various L1, meme, DeFi, GameFi, etc.)? What do you think are the reasons behind these preferences (culture, channels, profit effects, product supply, or information dissemination methods)?

Thanh Le: From my observation, the strategies of Vietnamese investors are continually evolving. At this stage, many people are returning to Bitcoin and mainstream crypto assets. Meanwhile, Vietnamese users are also gradually showing interest in other assets related to "on-chain tokenization," such as tokenized gold, silver, and certain metals and commodities. More and more people are starting to see these assets as more serious investment targets; compared to purely crypto-native projects, these assets are actually more intuitive in terms of understanding and acceptance.

However, even so, Vietnamese users remain highly open to new opportunities. In almost every new market trend and narrative, there are a significant number of Vietnamese users participating. Whether it is meme coins, AI-related tokens, or other emerging narratives, the Vietnamese market always has people continuously following and participating in these changes.

Wu Says Ivan: I agree; we have also witnessed the integration of crypto and traditional finance in this cycle. However, in the 2020–2022 cycle, Vietnam launched many projects, especially in GameFi; but in this current cycle (from 2024 to now), it seems that few Vietnamese projects are heard of. Do you also feel this way? If so, what do you think the reasons are?

Thanh Le: I believe there are still many Vietnamese projects actively developing across different tracks and blockchain ecosystems. I know this well because Coin98 itself has been involved in similar venture capital work, long-term investing and supporting local founders and their projects. As for why not many truly "made it" Vietnamese projects have emerged in the past year or so, I think there are three main reasons.

First is the overall market environment. Since entering a bear market in 2022, the market has experienced prolonged low activity, with hardly any projects showing significant explosive growth; naturally, it is difficult to see projects from any region stand out under such circumstances.

Second, this is not an issue unique to Vietnam, but a common phenomenon across the entire crypto industry. In the past year or two, an increasing number of talents and attention have shifted toward new technology areas like AI, where companies have higher valuations and faster growth; in contrast, the crypto industry continues to be in a down cycle, and its attractiveness has decreased temporarily.

Third, as the industry matures, entrepreneurs' demand for a clear legal and regulatory framework has noticeably increased. The new regulatory policies recently introduced in Vietnam, to some extent, provide more certainty and confidence for crypto entrepreneurs.

Because of these changes, I remain relatively optimistic about the future. I believe that as regulations become clearer, there is potential for more new crypto projects from Vietnam to enter the market starting this year.

Wu Says Ivan: So, what is the real situation of the developer ecosystem in Vietnam now? What directions are developers mainly focusing on? In which cities are crypto startups mainly concentrated? What is the approximate level of team size and maturity?

Thanh Le: I believe that Vietnam has currently formed a group of developers with overall high quality, mainly concentrated in the EVM ecosystem (Solidity) and Rust technology paths. Among them, Rust developers are more centered around the Solana ecosystem. In the past two to three years, Solana has developed very rapidly in Vietnam, one important reason being Superteam's long-term investment in the local market. They have continuously promoted community building among developers, helping them connect, find opportunities, and encourage new project launches. These efforts have begun to show clear results in the past year or two.

On the one hand, Vietnam has a certain user base of Solana; on the other hand, developers have gained more practical development opportunities within the Solana ecosystem. Looking at indicators such as on-chain activity, revenue from leading applications, meme trends, and user trading behavior, Solana has become one of the most active ecosystems in Vietnam, and a relatively mature developer community is gradually taking shape. Meanwhile, Ethereum still bears the technical accumulation of the EVM ecosystem. We can still see a stable and expanding group of developers who are deeply engaged in Solidity and the EVM system for the long term.

Due to the limited number of projects emerging locally in the past year or two, many Vietnamese developers choose to join overseas crypto companies to enhance their skills and participate in broader open-source protocol development. From this perspective, Vietnam is gradually becoming an important talent pool in the global crypto industry, and its developers' presence in various technological trends is continuously increasing.

Wu Says Ivan: What is the interest from both local and overseas capital in Vietnamese projects right now? Was your fundraising process smooth at that time?

Thanh Le: I do believe we were somewhat lucky when we entered the market in 2021, and we were fortunate to receive support from several large global investment institutions. One important reason is that we were among the few projects in the entire region that actually had products launched and consistently running for one to two years.

We experienced the process from "raising funds based on a white paper" to "raising funds based on an MVP," and finally to fundraising for a mature product that already had real users and usage data. This is clearly more advantageous compared to projects that are still in the conceptual stage, which greatly aided our fundraising efforts.

Another factor is the market environment. In 2021, the overall market was at a high point, making fundraising relatively easier. However, it is essential that the team had already continuously invested heavily for four years prior, which established a solid trust base with investors.

So for us, this is the result of long-term investment, the right timing, and a bit of luck. This logic does not only apply to Vietnamese projects but is valid for all projects.

Currently, the difficulty in fundraising is not solely a matter of project quality; the more core reason lies in the market downturn. Weaker market conditions, pressure on VCs, mean that many investors have already incurred losses in other projects, leading to a noticeable decrease in overall funding authorization and willingness to invest. Therefore, what we observe is not merely that individual projects are struggling to fund, but rather that the overall fund scale in the region is shrinking, and the pace of investment is becoming more cautious. This situation is not unique to Vietnam; at least in the Asian markets I have observed, the overall trend is essentially the same.

Wu Says Ivan: For the last question: what do you believe are the core advantages and characteristics of Vietnam as a country and Vietnamese people in the crypto industry? I have the impression that many project community operations frequently involve Vietnamese individuals — what do you think is the reason behind this?

Thanh Le: I believe, in terms of education and users' understanding of project and industry operational mechanisms, the overall awareness level of the Vietnamese crypto community will continue to improve. After years of genuine participation and practice, many people have become quite familiar with these tools and mechanisms. In some respects, many have also started to genuinely recognize and appreciate the industry itself; therefore, they remain willing to learn new technologies, keep an eye on new projects, and continually seek new investment opportunities. I do not think this trend will disappear in the short term, nor do I see any clear reasons for a reversal.

At the trading level, the new regulatory framework will indeed bring some changes. For example, in the future, trading assets may need to be conducted through regulated centralized exchanges, rather than freely operating on unregulated platforms as in the past; the trading pathways themselves will become more compliant. But I do not believe this will diminish local participants' interest, especially among developers and entrepreneurs. On the contrary, a clearer regulatory framework will significantly enhance their confidence, allowing them to invest more securely in construction and product development.

From a national perspective, I believe Vietnam is on a correct path. The government is earnestly exploring how to develop blockchain as a core technology to drive the future growth of the digital economy. Although there are still many policy details that need refinement, it is evident that the government has invested considerable energy in this direction and possesses the determination for long-term advancement.

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