Vietnam is not looking like fertile ground for bitcoin growth, it seems. The State Bank of Vietnam, along with the Government, have said that they do not recognize bitcoin as a legitimate means of payments in Vietnamese territories.
The news was reported last week by the Authority of Foreign Information Service (AFIS), who also note that the use of bitcoin in Vietnam is forbidden (bold emphasis ours):
The State Bank of Vietnam has reported it to the Government and sent an official note warning about the risks in the Bitcoin using transactions and affirming that the Vietnamese Government does not recognize and allow the Bitcoin using transactions and is not responsible to resolve the arising disputes relating to the Bitcoin using transactions.
The AFIS outlines risk factors, as viewed by officials:
The documents of the General Department V (Ministry of Public Police) show that the use of Bitcoin will cause a lot of negative impacts, say, the failure of control by the functional agencies, thus creating an environment of operation for all kinds of crimes with a lot of hidden risks for the Bitcoin users.
Even it can cause negative impacts on the economies of the countries in particular and on the economy of the world in general, causing the losses in collecting taxes, and in a long term, it is possible to form an asset bubble for speculations and price hikes; the policies of the countries will be considerable affected, thus impacting the people’s confidence in the government.
That’s not to say that it’s a closed case, however. The Bank will reportedly study the digital currency and a report will be delivered to the country’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung this month. Conclusions drawn from said report will paint the long-term picture regarding bitcoin’s legality in Vietnam.