SSI chairman recasts digital assets as decentralized tech, moves past Bitcoin doubts

Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of Vietnam's leading broker SSI Securities Corporation (HoSE: SSI), said his view on digital assets has completely shifted from five years ago. Back then he thought Bitcoin could fall to zero, but that is no longer the case.

Digital assets are not merely “coins” or “virtual money” but a technology of decentralization, where blockchain itself serves as the shared ledger, eliminating the need for traditional record-keeping, Hung made the remarks at SSI's extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (EGM) last Thursday.

He said it is essential to understand and engage with what younger generations care about. While they may pay less attention to equities today, their focus is on digital assets.

“In five to 10 years, they will be the new generation of entrepreneurs shaping the market. With that mindset, SSI sees itself as a first mover in digital finance,” the chairman noted.

Hung also underscored that the market can only grow when regulations allow and enable effective business operations.

“SSI has already prepared its technology team, infrastructure and strategy, but sustainable development must come from a complete and consistent legal framework,” he emphasized.

Hung added that the ultimate goal of the digital asset market should be to enable “builders” - young Vietnamese developers creating tech products - to sell them on global exchanges and bring foreign currency back to the country.

If investors only buy international tokens like Bitcoin or Ethereum, capital essentially flows overseas, he explained.

“That’s why Vietnam’s digital asset market needs to become a platform that nurtures domestic creators, much like the stock market was designed to help companies raise funds for business expansion.”

He likened SSI and other early movers to “fire starters,” laying the first bricks for a new market. But it will take years and successive generations of builders to turn that spark into a fully fledged digital asset market on par with equities or real estate.

Vietnam has officially legalized digital assets with the approval of the Law on Digital Technology Industry by the National Assembly, the country's legislature, in July.

The law defines crypto assets as digital assets that use encryption or similar digital technologies for validation during creation, issuance, storage, or transfer.

The Vietnamese Government on September 9, 2025 issued Resolution 05, officially launching a five-year pilot of Vietnam’s crypto asset market.

According to chief economist Michael Kokalari and senior economics analyst Thai Viet Trinh at VinaCapital, the government aims to move Vietnam’s crypto activity from large informal markets reliant on offshore channels to formal, taxable, onshore channels integrated into the domestic financial system.

There are estimates that as many as 17 million Vietnamese already trade crypto currencies (with annual digital asset transaction volume estimated at over $100 billion), with nearly all that activity taking place on offshore exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and others, in Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong, they said.

Following the resolution’s issuance, major players in finance, securities and banking quickly joined in, creating a vibrant landscape for the new arena.

Among the frontrunners are Techcom Securities (TCBS) and SSI Securities, which have been early in building out digital platforms.

SSI Securities set up SSI Digital Technology JSC (SSI Digital) in 2022. In June 2025, SSI’s subsidiaries - SSI Asset Management, investment platform SSI Digital Ventures and SSI Digital - signed MoUs with Tether, U2U Network and Amazon Web Services. The event marked a key step in building Vietnam’s digital finance, blockchain and cloud infrastructure ecosystem.

In May, Techcom Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (TCEX), part of the Techcombank-TCBS ecosystem, was established with initial capital of VND3 billion ($113,593), which was raised to VND101 billion ($3.82 million) just three months later.

They were later joined by VPBank Securities (VPBankS) and its parent lender VPBank, which together invested in setting up Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (CAEX) on September 19.

HD Securities (HDS) also drew attention with a plan to raise its charter capital to VND10 trillion ($378.64 million), allocating VND1.47 trillion ($55.66 million) to set up HD Crypto Asset Exchange. Another major player, VIX Securities, launched VIX Crypto Asset Exchange JSC (VIXEX) with charter capital of VND1 trillion ($37.86 million).

In August, Military Bank (MB) signed an MoU with Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit. Accordingly, the two sides will work closely together, sharing technology and infrastructure to advance Vietnam’s digital finance ecosystem. Dunamu will also support MB in setting up a cryptocurrency exchange in Vietnam.

Notably, HVA Investment JSC has set up DNEX in Danang, central Vietnam, aiming to develop a digital asset exchange under a cooperation framework worth VND10 trillion ($378.64 million).