"Looking for New Growth Engines"... Dunamu and Bithumb Explore Expansion into Vietnam [Crypto Briefing]

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[The Financial News] As the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has decided to allow virtual asset exchange operations starting this year, Dunamu Inc. and Bithumb are seeking opportunities to enter the market by expanding cooperation with local financial institutions.
According to the virtual asset industry on the 11th, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam plans to pilot virtual asset trading platform services within the second quarter of this year. After issuing a resolution to pilot the virtual asset market in September last year, it opened the exchange licensing process in January and is now reviewing applications.
Vietnam's approval of virtual asset exchange businesses is seen as an effort to expand its domestic market while also closing regulatory gaps. The country is regarded as the world's fourth-largest virtual asset market, with annual trading volume estimated at about $230 billion. However, because no local exchange has yet been established, many investors have relied on overseas platforms.
As a result, domestic exchanges such as Dunamu Inc. and Bithumb are also focusing on entering Vietnam. The move is seen as an effort to reduce dependence on transaction fees, which account for most of their revenue. Last year, transaction fees made up 98.26% of Dunamu Inc.'s sales and 97.69% of Bithumb's sales.
In August last year, Dunamu Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation with Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB Bank) to establish a virtual asset exchange. Under the plan, Dunamu Inc. would support MB Bank in setting up a virtual asset exchange in Vietnam and in building laws, systems, and investor protection measures related to virtual assets. Last month, Dunamu Vice Chairman Kim Hyoung-nyon accompanied President Lee Jae-myung on his visit to Vietnam and met with MB Bank and related partners to conduct a local proof of concept (PoC).
In March, Bithumb signed an MOU with SSID, a subsidiary of SSI Securities in Vietnam. Bithumb also aims to build a strategic partnership with SSID to establish and operate a local exchange. It has also left open the possibility of making a strategic equity investment in SSID's designated entity, depending on future approval of Vietnam's virtual asset regulations.
However, since the local companies that Dunamu Inc. and Bithumb have partnered with have not yet received approval for the pilot project, a full-scale entry is expected to take some time. According to foreign media reports, MB Bank and SSID were not included on the list that passed the first qualification screening by Vietnam's Ministry of Finance.
Direct entry is also a hurdle. Under current law, there is no rule that outright bans domestic exchanges from expanding overseas. However, cross-border 'order book sharing' is prohibited under FIU guidelines, so exchanges can only enter foreign markets by establishing local subsidiaries or acquiring local firms. Even then, such activity is treated as 'offshore business by a domestic exchange' and is subject to the same strict regulations as in Korea, which is why exchanges emphasize that their overseas cooperation is only a 'partnership.'
An industry official said, "There are indeed many restrictions on domestic exchanges entering overseas markets at the moment," adding, "Authorities are currently focusing only on regulation, but they should also consider directions such as industry development."
yimsh0214@fnnews.com Lim Sang-hyuk Reporter