Vietnam wants to include digital assets in its emergency requisition law
The Standing Committee of the Vietnamese National Assembly reviewed the draft amendments to the Law on Land Reclamation and Property Expropriation, chaired by National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and presided over by Vice Chairman Nguyen Khac Dinh.
9/23/20265 min read
The two powers are different, and only one of them is appropriate.
Vietnamese law distinguishes between two powers of state power that are often grouped together in English articles. Land expropriation requires the permanent transfer of ownership along with compensation. Expropriation, on the other hand, only transfers the right to use the property temporarily; it will be returned to the owner once the emergency situation has passed.
The 2008 law only allows both when absolutely necessary for national defense, security, or national interest, and only when other means of mobilizing resources are insufficient. Vice Chairman Nguyen Hong Dao described this law at the session as an indispensable law for the country but one that rarely has the opportunity to be used. The COVID-19 pandemic was the circumstance that brought it into operation.
Requisitioning is effective because most assets can be borrowed. A truck requisitioned for flood relief will be returned. A hotel used as a quarantine facility will be returned to its owner. The asset remains in existence throughout the period of state use and is returned essentially unchanged.
This is based on the assumption that digital assets are broken, and that's what the committee chairman pointed out. A cryptocurrency transfer transaction is complete when payment is made. There is no mechanism for lending Bitcoin and receiving back the same Bitcoin, and no way to restore exclusive control over the private key once the state has acquired it, because the key holder can transfer the asset at any time and copies cannot be destroyed in a verifiable way. Therefore, the requisition of cryptocurrency assets is not a temporary use of assets. In fact, it is the transfer of ownership operating under a legal power designed for a different purpose.
What is actually compatible with the requisition model?
Other additions in the draft are all within the original logic. The Ministry of Finance's argument is that adding digital assets, data, information systems, and digital infrastructure will provide the state with a legal basis to mobilize digital infrastructure, technology platforms, and data to serve governance, emergency response, cybersecurity, information security, and national digital transformation.
Data centers, telecommunications networks, cloud computing capacity, and information systems can all be temporarily used and returned by the state. Emergency situations where the government needs computing power or network access are the kind of situations where requisitioning is built to address, and the infrastructure will remain intact after the event occurs.
That difference is the core of the committee's recommendation. The concept of "digital assets" as defined by Vietnamese law is very broad. Article 46 of the Law on Digital Technology Industry 2025, effective from January 1, 2026, defines digital assets as assets, as defined by the 2015 Civil Code, expressed in the form of digital data, created, issued, stored, transferred, and authenticated using digital technology in an electronic environment. That definition includes data files, digital infrastructure components, encrypted tools, and cryptocurrencies, and they operate very differently when a country has provisional control.
The legal framework for security and the questions raised.
The proposal to include cryptocurrency assets in the scope of requisition comes from the Ministry of Public Security, which in June recommended adding cryptocurrency assets and strategic data frequencies to the scope of requisition, arguing, based on experience in combating cybercrime, that these are genuine digital assets that need to be requisitioned to protect national cybersecurity. The Ministry of Justice supports the expansion of the scope and requests further clarification on which types of assets and ownership rights should be included.
The reason given was for law enforcement and cybersecurity protection, not for financial reasons. This is noteworthy because the seizure of assets related to crime is typically governed by criminal proceedings, with requirements for evidence and court oversight, whereas requisition is an urgent administrative right exercised without such steps.
Therefore, the requisition of cryptocurrency assets, justified by concerns about cybercrime, lies close to a parallel path to seizing digital assets outside of criminal proceedings. The limitation of the 2008 law, requiring genuine necessity for national defense, security, or national interest when other measures fail, is a safeguard against that, and the Standing Committee's emphasis on a narrow, criterion-based application is consistent with keeping these two rights distinct.
The enforcement will target custodians.
Furthermore, the draft fails to answer a practical question. A seizure order for self-custodial cryptocurrency assets is virtually unenforceable. The state cannot seize them without the private key, and the holder could transfer the funds in seconds if they knew about the order beforehand.
Where such orders can be enforced is at intermediary levels: exchanges, custodians, and service providers holding assets on behalf of clients. This directly links this draft to the rest of the regulatory development process in Vietnam. The revised Anti-Money Laundering Law, presented by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam in August, will designate cryptocurrency asset services as reporting entities from December 1, 2026, and the licensing framework stemming from the Law on Digital Industry and Resolution 05/2025/NQ-CP aims to bring cryptocurrency service providers into the country and subject them to supervision.
The very infrastructure that provides anti-money laundering monitoring capabilities also creates the checkpoint at which seizure orders can be enforced. This is not an argument against any policy, but rather a mechanism for making an abstract power feasible, and it means that the actual scope of the provision depends on the extent to which Vietnam's cryptocurrency operations actually shift from foreign platforms to licensed domestic platforms.
Assessment and Conclusion
Among the five core policies submitted by the Ministry of Finance, one proposes a new method for valuation and compensation. For tangible assets returned after temporary use, compensation refers to damages or losses. For cryptocurrency assets that cannot be returned in kind, compensation must be in cash, raising questions about what price level should be applied.
An asset being requisitioned at one price and compensated at another creates a shift in value in whichever direction the market fluctuates during that period, and the value of cryptocurrency assets can fluctuate by tens of percent in a single emergency situation. The current legal framework is not designed to accommodate assets whose value can change significantly between the time of requisition and the time of payment.
Vietnam is not the only country to establish a clear legal relationship between the state and cryptocurrencies this year. Russia's Federal Law 282-FZ established a licensed market under the supervision of the Central Bank of Russia. South Korea is replacing the 1950 State Property Law with the Basic Law on National Property, which classifies confiscated cryptocurrencies as national property. The United States passed bill HR 8957 in committee to legalize the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve supplemented by confiscation. Vietnam's approach differs in that requisition is a temporary emergency right rather than a framework of ownership, which is why the Standing Committee's objection is justified: the expanded power to encompass does not function in the way that assets are owned.
Disclaimer: The content in this article is for informational, research, data analysis, and reference purposes only regarding the cryptocurrency market. All opinions, assessments, forecasts, or opinions reflect the author's perspective at the time of publication and do not constitute investment advice, solicitations for buying or selling, trading recommendations, advertising, marketing, or promotion of any financial products, services, or cryptocurrencies. Mentions of projects, tokens, protocols, exchanges, wallets, or cryptocurrency service providers (CASPs) are for research, analysis, or informational purposes only and should not be construed as endorsements, recommendations, or guarantees in any way. HCCVenture does not broker, advertise, market, promote, or connect users in Vietnam with any cryptocurrency services from CASPs. HCCVenture does not accept asset custody, investment mandates, manage assets, or execute transactions on behalf of clients. All investment decisions are made entirely through the reader's own research (DYOR), evaluation, and responsibility; HCCVenture is not liable for any losses or damages arising from the use of or reliance on the information presented in this article.
Compiled and analyzed by HCCVenture
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