Written by: Joe Zhou, Foresight News
Vietnam, a magical country repeatedly mentioned in numerous Web3 research reports.
It has one of the youngest population structures in the world, an extremely high penetration rate of mobile internet, and a nearly wild financial vitality. In the Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index released by Chainalysis, Vietnam has ranked first or among the top for several consecutive years.
As a long-time observer of the crypto industry, I have always wanted to clarify a question: when 'crypto payments,' 'stablecoins,' and 'Mass Adoption'—these grand concepts written in PPTs and research reports—are truly deployed in the streets and alleys of Vietnam, what kind of chemical reaction will occur?
At the end of 2025, I set foot on this land. During my two weeks in Vietnam, I did not visit grand trading platforms or attend industry banquets, but traveled as an ordinary tourist, taking taxis, getting massages, and eating from street stalls.
I recorded five small things during the journey. They may not represent the whole picture, but they are the most authentic slices to glimpse the current state of Web3 in Vietnam.
One: 'No international credit cards, only cash and USDT.'
At a SPA in Nha Trang, our group of 12 spent 320 USD. When settling the bill, the merchant bluntly stated: cash payment is at a 10% discount, while paying with Visa or Mastercard is at full price.
Initially, I was a bit displeased, as carrying large amounts of Vietnamese dong cash is inconvenient, and I even questioned whether the boss was 'taking advantage of familiarity.' But the boss's patient explanation dispelled my misunderstanding.
In Vietnam, the fees for international credit cards are high, usually at 3% or even higher. More importantly, using a card means that funds enter the banking system, requiring additional taxes, while cash can avoid these. The boss expressed her difficulties from a very pragmatic small business perspective.
Ultimately, we settled the bill with 300 USD in cash. The boss paid less tax, and we saved dozens of dollars, which can be considered a win-win. Of course, the ones hurt are the credit card organizations and banks— the 'middlemen.'
Above: I am paying with cash in USD.
This resonated with me: the global credit card payment system has long been monopolized by a few giants, extracting a 'toll fee' of 3% for each transaction, with ATM cash 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' issue, i.e., instantly converting USDT into the Vietnamese dong they need.
With this verification logic in mind, I embarked on my subsequent crypto payment experience journey in Vietnam.
Two: Vietnam's stablecoin payment is showing the dawn of Mass Adoption.
When Vietnamese merchants accept cash dollars, are they ready to accept dollar stablecoins?
In the next leg of my journey, I deliberately tried to live only using Bitget Wallet. Grab rides, buying noodles from street vendors, SPA massages, seafood feasts... I was surprised to find that as long as the merchant had VietQR (Vietnam's universal payment QR code), I could generally scan directly with my wallet, and the funds would be converted and received in real time. VietQR can be seen in almost every corner of Vietnam.
The reason I used the word 'basic' is that I discovered a significant bug in crypto payments, which will be mentioned in Chapter 3.
Above: VietQR (bottom right), which is spread across the streets of Vietnam, allows direct payment via Bitget Wallet scanning.
It is not an exaggeration to say that in Vietnam, the experience of crypto payments is already infinitely close to Alipay.
Although I had heard of it before, the shock after personal experience was still strong. Crypto wallets like Bitget Wallet have integrated with payment networks like Aeon Pay, truly transforming cryptocurrency from 'speculative targets' into 'purchasing power,' directly reaching millions of merchants in Vietnam and surrounding countries.
Of course, all this smooth experience is built on Vietnam having a highly unified and popular QR code payment system (VietQR). It is the infrastructure, while crypto payments are the new blood running on it.
However, frequent use finally made me realize that Bitget Wallet scanning payment is not omnipotent. Once I actually found a bug.
Three: A failed crypto payment made me discover the 'real-world bug.'
On December 20, 2025, I dined again at the well-known restaurant Moc Seafood in Nha Trang. In the first two visits, I used cash and credit cards, and on the third, I decided to challenge using Bitget Wallet for payment.
However, this 'challenge' failed.
The reason is that the merchant did not present a standard VietQR aggregated code, but rather a printed QR code from an internal bank system or an old system. After my wallet scanned it and indicated that the deduction was successful, the money was transferred on-chain, but the merchant did not receive any voice broadcast or arrival notification for a long time.
And the other party also demonstrated to me that after she paid with her phone, she immediately received a notification of money arriving.
Above: I attempted crypto payment unsuccessfully, but the staff successfully completed it using local bank scanning.
The merchant helplessly showed me their verification method: scanning with a local financial app, and the money arrives instantly.
The loss of a few dollars is the 'tuition fee' I paid for this experience. This small episode made me realize that crypto payment's 'last mile' in the real world is still fragile. The lack of compatibility protocols, delay in merchant confirmations, and the cognitive time difference between users' 'deduction is success' and merchants' 'arrival counts' are all gaps that must be filled on the road to Mass Adoption.
Four: In the minds of ordinary people, cryptocurrency is still 'gray.'
The commercialization of technology not only depends on the maturity of the code but also on the cultural acceptance.
Although Vietnam has a high degree of youthfulness, the image of Crypto is not glamorous in the eyes of the general public, especially in northern cities like Hanoi, where this situation is more pronounced. During my conversations with several locals— including currency exchangers, motorbike drivers, and university students—their first reaction to cryptocurrency was surprisingly consistent: money laundering tool, gray market, gambling.
In their view, this is not the 'future of the internet' or 'the future of finance,' but a means to evade regulation.
In the bustling streets of Hanoi and Nha Trang, it is almost impossible to find Bitcoin ATMs or offline OTC exchange stores. This forms a strong visual contrast to places like Hong Kong, Japan, or Georgia—where the neon signs of Crypto Exchanges have long prominently occupied the commercial street's C position.
On one side is the world's number one on-chain data, and on the other is the elusive trace in the physical world. This complete separation of online and offline vividly depicts a 'Vietnamese-style crypto fold.'
Five: I found a Binance hat in the driver's car.
An accidental discovery tore open a corner of the Vietnamese crypto world.
During a Grab ride, my colleague keenly noticed that the young driver's dashboard casually displayed a hat with the Binance logo. Seeing that we were paying attention, the driver grinned, skillfully took out his phone, and showed 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 data indicate that more than 20 million people in Vietnam hold or have used digital assets, and the proportion of young people in the Vietnamese population is very high (for example, those aged 10–24 make up a large proportion of the total population), which significantly drives the acceptance of digital assets and the formation of Web3 usage habits.
This penetration geographically presents an interesting 'north-south difference.'
A university student from Hanoi told me that the views on money are completely different between northern and southern Vietnam: people from the north, represented by the capital Hanoi, are conservative and tend to save, preparing for the future; while those from the south, led by the economic center Ho Chi Minh City, are deeply influenced by Western business culture, accustomed to consuming in advance, and highly receptive to new things.
This also explains why the vast majority of Chinese Web3 practitioners—whether media people, VCs, or chain 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, transforming into 'gold miners' on the chain at night.
If the fourth point of the travelogue showed me the 'prejudice' of people in northern cities towards cryptocurrency, then on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, my friends described this country's 'fervor' for cryptocurrency.
Vietnam has a strong coffee culture, and in crowded places like Highlands Coffee or The Coffee House, my friend witnessed a very hardcore scene: on the screens of young people typing on laptops, not all were games or social software; frequently seen were Binance's K-line charts and even the black window of a Solidity code editor.
Data does not lie. According to the Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index by Chainalysis, Vietnam has ranked first or among the top for several consecutive years. It has the perfect 'golden population structure,' with tens of millions of young people eager for upward mobility, proficient in digital technology, and unlike the older generation, not superstitious about the traditional banking system.
This gives Vietnam a wonderful 'folding feeling':
On the street, a motorbike driver might tell you that Crypto is a 'money laundering tool'; but in a café at the end of the alley, a young developer might be building the next Axie Infinity (a phenomenal Web3 game born in Vietnam).
This bottom-up vitality might be the most authentic background color of Vietnam Web3. There are no grand financial centers here, but every crowded café could be a node of Web3; every Grab that travels through heavy rain may have a young person waiting for a Bitcoin bull market behind the wheel.
Conclusion: Seeking the 'alpha' of the next decade.
These five small things are just the tip of the iceberg of my observations in Vietnam.
The chapter of the journey is far from over. Next, I will delve into the 'southern economic heart' of Ho Chi Minh City, climb the plateau of Dalat, known as 'Vietnam's Dali,' traverse the coastal hub of Da Nang, and finally arrive at Phu Quoc Island in the south.
After visiting dozens of countries and repeatedly communicating with several friends who have long been engaged locally and local Vietnamese, 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. The young population structure, the continuous desire for upward mobility, and a relatively open social attitude toward foreign things together create a rare soil, which is the best soil to nurture new technologies.
I will continue to walk on this warm land and the surrounding countries, not just as a tourist, but as an observer, to explore the real growth status of Web3 in Southeast Asia.
Please stay tuned, our exploration continues.
