Five Small Things I Experienced in Vietnam's Crypto Ecosystem

Written by: Joe Zhou, Foresight News

Vietnam, a magical country repeatedly mentioned in countless Web3 research reports.

It has one of the youngest population structures in the world, a very high mobile internet penetration rate, and a nearly wild financial vitality. In Chainalysis's "Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index," Vietnam has ranked first or near the top for several consecutive years.

As a long-time observer of the crypto industry, I have always wanted to clarify one question: What kind of chemical reaction occurs when grand concepts like "crypto payments," "stablecoins," and "Mass Adoption," which are written in PPTs and research reports, are actually implemented in the streets of Vietnam?

At the end of 2025, I set foot on this land. During my two weeks in Vietnam, I did not visit high-end exchanges or attend industry parties; instead, I acted as an ordinary tourist, taking taxis, getting massages, and eating street food.

I recorded five small things from my journey. They may not represent the whole picture, but they are the most authentic slices to glimpse the current state of Web3 in Vietnam.

1. "No international credit cards, only cash and USDT"

At a spa in Nha Trang, our group of 12 spent $320. When it came time to pay, the merchant bluntly stated: cash payments receive a 10% discount, while paying with Visa or Mastercard is at full price.

I was initially a bit displeased, as carrying a large amount of Vietnamese dong in cash was inconvenient, and I even questioned whether the owner was "taking advantage of us." But the owner's patient explanation dispelled my misunderstanding.

In Vietnam, the fees for international credit cards are high, usually around 3% or even more. More importantly, using a card means the funds enter the banking system, incurring additional taxes, while cash can avoid these. The owner expressed her difficulties from a very pragmatic small business perspective.

In the end, we settled the bill with $300 in cash. The owner paid less in taxes, and we saved dozens of dollars, making it a win-win situation. Of course, the ones hurt were the credit card organizations and banks, the "middlemen."

Above: The author is paying with cash in USD.

This made me deeply reflect: the global credit card payment system has long been monopolized by a few giants, extracting a "toll fee" of 3% on every transaction, with ATM withdrawal fees exceeding 4%. For merchants, this is not only a financial cost but also a compliance cost.

Since merchants have a natural preference for "dollars," theoretically, their acceptance of "digital dollars" (stablecoins) is also worth looking forward to—as long as the payment tool can help them solve the "last mile" problem, that is, instantly converting USDT into the Vietnamese dong they need.

With this validation logic in mind, I embarked on my subsequent crypto payment experience journey in Vietnam.

2. Vietnam's Stablecoin Payments: The Dawn of Mass Adoption

When Vietnamese merchants accept US dollar bills, are they ready to accept US dollar stablecoins?

During the next part of my journey, I began to intentionally try to live using only Bitget Wallet. Taking Grab rides, buying pho from street vendors, getting spa massages, enjoying seafood dinners… I was surprised to find that as long as the merchant had VietQR (Vietnam's universal payment QR code), I could basically scan directly with my wallet, and the funds would convert and arrive in real-time. VietQR can be seen in almost every corner of Vietnam.

I used the word "basically" because I discovered that crypto payments also have a significant bug, which will be mentioned in Chapter 3.

Above: VietQR (bottom right) is everywhere in Vietnam, and can be scanned for payment directly with Bitget Wallet.

It is no exaggeration to say that in Vietnam, the experience of crypto payments is already infinitely close to that of Alipay.

Although I had heard about it before, the shock after experiencing it firsthand was still strong. Crypto wallets like Bitget Wallet are integrated with payment networks like Aeon Pay, which truly transforms cryptocurrency from a "speculative asset" into "purchasing power," directly reaching tens of millions of merchants in Vietnam and surrounding countries.

Of course, this smooth experience is built on Vietnam having a highly unified and widespread QR code payment system (VietQR). It is the infrastructure, while crypto payments are the new blood running through it.

However, frequent use finally made me realize that Bitget Wallet's scanning payment is not omnipotent. One time, I actually discovered a bug.

3. A Failed Crypto Payment Revealed "Real-World Bugs"

On December 20, 2025, I dined again at the well-known restaurant Moc Seafood in Nha Trang. In the previous two visits, I had used cash and a credit card, and for the third time, I decided to challenge myself to pay with Bitget Wallet.

However, this "challenge" failed.

The reason was that the merchant presented a non-standard VietQR aggregate code, but rather a printed QR code from an internal bank system or an outdated system. After scanning with my wallet, it showed that the deduction was successful, but the funds had not been reported or notified on the merchant's side.

The merchant also demonstrated to me that after she paid with her phone, she immediately received a notification that the money had arrived.

Above: The author attempted a crypto payment unsuccessfully, but the staff successfully completed the transaction using a local bank's scan.

The merchant helplessly showed me their verification method: scanning with a local financial app, which resulted in instant arrival.

The loss of a few dollars was the "tuition fee" I paid for this experience. This little episode made me realize that crypto payments are still fragile in the "last mile" of the real world. The lack of compatibility protocols, delays in merchant confirmations, and the cognitive time lag between users' "deduction means success" and merchants' "arrival counts" are all gaps that must be filled on the road to Mass Adoption.

4. In the Eyes of Ordinary People, Cryptocurrency is Still "Gray"

The commercialization of technology depends not only on the maturity of the code but also on the acceptance of the culture.

Although Vietnam has a very young population, in the eyes of the general public, the image of crypto is not glamorous, especially in the northern cities of Vietnam, where this situation is more pronounced. I spoke with several locals in Hanoi—including currency exchangers, motorbike taxi drivers, and university students—and their first reaction to cryptocurrency was surprisingly unanimous: money laundering tools, gray industry, gambling.

In their view, this is not the "future of the internet" or the "future of finance," but a means to evade regulation.

On the bustling streets of Hanoi and Nha Trang, I could hardly find traces of Bitcoin ATMs or offline OTC exchange shops. This forms a stark visual contrast with places like Hong Kong, Japan, or Georgia—where the neon signs of crypto exchanges have long boldly occupied the prime spots on commercial streets.

On one side is the on-chain data ranking first globally, while on the other side is the difficulty of finding traces in the physical world. This complete disconnection between online and offline vividly illustrates a "Vietnamese-style crypto fold."

5. I Found a Binance Hat in the Driver's Car

An accidental discovery peeled back a corner of Vietnam's crypto world.

During a Grab ride, my colleague keenly noticed that the young driver had a Binance logo hat casually placed on the dashboard. Seeing that we were paying attention, the driver grinned and skillfully took out his phone to show us the Binance app he was running.

This scene made me realize that cryptocurrency in this country is not merely an underground current; it is penetrating the lives of ordinary people in a very vibrant way. Multiple public reports indicate that over 20 million people in Vietnam hold or have used digital assets, and the high proportion of young people in the Vietnamese population (for example, those aged 10-24 make up a large percentage) significantly promotes the acceptance of digital assets and the formation of Web3 usage habits.

This penetration presents an interesting "north-south difference" geographically.

A university student from Hanoi told me that there are starkly different views on money between northern and southern Vietnam: people in the north, represented by the capital Hanoi, are conservative, tend to save, and prepare for the future; while those in the south, led by the economic center Ho Chi Minh City, are deeply influenced by Western business culture, accustomed to spending in advance, and have a high acceptance of new things.

This also explains why the vast majority of Chinese Web3 practitioners—whether they are media people, VCs, or game developers—choose to settle in Ho Chi Minh City.

Here, low labor costs collide with the high returns of the crypto economy, making Vietnam a paradise for "chain game mining" geographical arbitrage. Many young people are ordinary office workers during the day and transform into "gold miners" on the chain at night.

If the fourth point of my travelogue showed me the "prejudice" of the people in northern Vietnamese cities towards cryptocurrency, then on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, my friends described the country's "fervor" for cryptocurrency.

Vietnam has a strong coffee culture, and in those crowded Highlands Coffee or The Coffee House, my friends witnessed a very hardcore scene: on the screens of rows of young people typing on laptops, not all were gaming or social software; they frequently checked Binance's candlestick charts and even the black windows of Solidity code editors.

Data does not lie. According to Chainalysis's "Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index," Vietnam has ranked first or near the top for several consecutive years. It has a perfect "golden population structure," with tens of millions of young people eager for social mobility, proficient in digital technology, and not as superstitious about traditional banking systems as the older generation.

This creates a wonderful "folded feeling" in Vietnam:

On the streets, a motorbike taxi driver might tell you that crypto is a "money laundering tool"; but in a café around the corner, a young developer might be building the next Axie Infinity (a phenomenal Web3 game born in Vietnam).

This bottom-up vitality may be the most authentic background of Vietnam's Web3. There are no grand financial centers here, but every crowded café could be a node of Web3; every Grab car navigating through heavy rain might have a young person in the driver's seat waiting for a Bitcoin bull market.

Conclusion: Seeking the "Alpha" of the Next Decade

These five small things are just the tip of the iceberg in my observation of Vietnam.

The chapters of this journey are far from over. Next, I will delve into the "economic heart of the south," Ho Chi Minh City, climb the plateau of Dalat, known as the "Vietnamese version of Dali," traverse the coastal hub of Da Nang, and finally arrive at Phu Quoc Island in the south.

After traveling through dozens of countries and repeatedly communicating with several friends who have long been deeply involved locally and with Vietnamese locals, I am increasingly convinced of one judgment: in the next decade, Vietnam will be one of the most promising economies in the world, if not the most promising. The young population structure, the continuously restless desire for upward mobility, and a relatively open social attitude towards foreign things together form a rare soil, which is the best nourishment for new technologies.

I will continue to walk on this hot land and in surrounding countries, not just as a tourist but as an observer, to explore the real growth state of Web3 in Southeast Asia.

Please stay tuned; our exploration is ongoing.

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