Vietnam Details Digital Bond, Tokenization Plans for New International Financial Hubs

Amid significant structural shifts in the global and domestic economies, Vietnam is accelerating the development of innovative financial products for its planned International Financial Centers (IFCs) in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. These products are designed to attract long-term capital, address national-scale economic bottlenecks, and elevate the international standing of the country’s financial market.

Recent government directives signal a new push for economic institutional reform. On June 2, 2026, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung led a meeting on the IFC implementation, instructing ministries and agencies to collaborate with specialized bodies to urgently design flagship product portfolios for the hubs in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

Ho Chi Minh City IFC

The Ho Chi Minh City IFC (VIFC-HCMC) is supported by a seven-member founding alliance comprising Sovico Group, VinaCapital, Nasdaq, three major commercial banks (MB, TPBank, and SHB), and Son Kim Capital. This consortium provides a foundation for implementing sophisticated capital structures that merge financial and technological resources with underlying asset infrastructure to create transformative products.

The first proposed flagship product is a Digital Project and Sustainability Bond framework. This is intended to mobilize and channel long-term capital from international institutions into strategic infrastructure megaprojects as well as key social and rental housing programs in the city, thereby alleviating pressure on the state budget.

Under this model, issuers could include the Ho Chi Minh City Finance and Investment State-Owned Company (HFIC) or other authorized state-owned corporations tasked with project implementation. Crucially, these bonds would not depend on State budget allocations for repayment. Instead, principal and interest payments would be secured by domestic revenue streams. For project and green infrastructure bonds, these sources would include future operating revenues, commercial exploitation rights, or proceeds from land auctions. For social and rental housing bonds, repayment would be backed by housing sales or recurring rental income.

A portion of these Vietnamese Dong (VND)-denominated revenues could be converted into U.S. dollars through currency swap instruments offered by the member commercial banks. This mechanism is designed to reduce exchange-rate risks associated with servicing USD-denominated bonds sold to international investors via a Nasdaq connectivity platform.

The Digital Bond model would be structured in two tiers.

Tier 1 involves private placement and initial liquidity creation. Project entities would issue VND-denominated Digital Bonds directly on the IFC’s technology platform. International investment funds and financial institutions within the IFC ecosystem would act as anchor investors, committing to purchase 60-70 per cent of each issuance. The IFC platform, working with the founding commercial banks, would offer automated digital foreign-exchange conversion, simplifying currency procedures and enabling direct VND disbursement to projects without straining the State budget.

Tier 2 focuses on international public distribution through a VIFC-Nasdaq connectivity platform. The remaining bond volume would be listed in USD on a dedicated digital board operated by VIFC-HCMC. Through direct technological integration, these Digital Bonds would be displayed simultaneously on both the VIFC-HCMC and Nasdaq platforms. This would allow international investors to place orders and trade in USD using Nasdaq’s infrastructure, which would automatically match orders against the underlying assets listed on VIFC-HCMC, ensuring real-time cross-border liquidity while adhering to domestic monetary security regulations.

To increase the appeal of these instruments, internationally-linked Digital Bonds issued within the IFC’s regulatory sandbox environment are proposed to have a zero-tax regime covering foreign contractor tax, dividend income tax, and capital gains tax. Foreign investors would also be guaranteed the right to freely convert currencies and repatriate capital and profits in USD. Administrative processes would be streamlined through real-time regulatory technology (RegTech) monitoring systems that integrate anti-money laundering (AML) controls and electronic Know-Your-Customer (eKYC) processes on a blockchain-based infrastructure.

A second proposed product is an international marketplace for fundraising and intellectual property (IP) tokenization. A significant hurdle in implementing the Law on Support for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises is that technology firms and innovative startups often hold valuable IP but struggle to access capital due to difficulties in valuing intangible assets and the banking sector's collateral requirements.

VIFC-HCMC aims to solve this by tokenizing IP assets, such as patents and software copyrights, into blockchain-based IP Tokens. Smart contracts would embed legal documentation, certification histories, and projected revenue streams to ensure transparency and immutability.

These packaged IP Tokens could then be listed on a dedicated digital board within VIFC-HCMC, connected to Nasdaq’s digital asset and cross-border trading systems. This direct linkage would provide international venture capital funds with access to the IP assets of Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Fund managers would serve as anchor investors to support market liquidity, while the alliance of the three commercial banks would act as custodians for the underlying assets and offer working-capital credit lines based on real-time token valuations.

The third product is a global tokenized exchange for agricultural commodities and carbon credits. Currently, tens of billions of USD worth of key Vietnamese agricultural exports, including coffee, rice, and pepper, are subject to pricing mechanisms set by overseas commodity exchanges.

VIFC-HCMC, through its strategic relationship with Nasdaq, plans to establish a tokenized agricultural commodities and carbon credit exchange. By combining international matching-engine technology, clearing and settlement services from founding banks, and the logistics networks of corporate members, Vietnam could gain greater control over the pricing of its agricultural products. This would provide farmers and businesses with transparent pricing and direct trading via digital certificates, reducing intermediary financial costs and retaining more value within domestic supply chains.

Da Nang IFC

While Ho Chi Minh City is positioned as the center for the corporate capital market, the 12 official members of VIFC Da Nang possess stronger capabilities in financial technology. Several core products are envisioned based on this strength.

The first is a Digital Bond framework to support logistics infrastructure across central Vietnam. This would follow a two-tier structure similar to the VIFC-HCMC model, with institutional placements in Tier 1 and retail distribution through the Da Nang IFC’s International Digital Asset Exchange in Tier 2. Bond repayment would be supported by future revenues from port services, warehousing fees, and transportation services from pilot logistics networks in the region.

The second product is a dedicated offshore digital banking institution. To leverage the special mechanisms under Resolution No. 259/2025/QH15, Da Nang plans to develop this model to enhance its competitiveness against regional financial centers like Singapore and Hong Kong (China). Under this framework, non-resident offshore accounts would operate in a zero-tax environment with unrestricted capital mobility. State-owned commercial banks, partnering with digital financial groups, would provide real-time payment services and specialized foreign exchange hedging infrastructure.

This initiative is expected to create a vital financial channel for cross-border capital flows and reduce administrative friction costs by an estimated 1.5-2 per cent for foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises operating along the East-West Economic Corridor.

A key innovation is the replacement of paper-based administrative controls with digital infrastructure. Cross-border eKYC procedures, AML compliance, and unusual transaction monitoring would be fully automated using decentralized technologies and AI operated by the IFC’s technology and legal alliance. This smart governance framework could cut operating costs by up to 60 per cent compared to traditional models, creating a secure environment to attract foreign capital without compromising domestic monetary stability.

In conclusion, by designing a portfolio of flagship products that align with the strengths of founding members and leverage the institutional and technological advantages of the IFCs, Vietnam aims to address practical national and local challenges and establish these centers as national models of innovation. These breakthrough products represent the strategic intersection of the government’s macroeconomic management objectives, local aspirations for reform, and the economic ambitions of participating members. They could serve as a launchpad for Vietnam’s financial market to navigate challenging global economic conditions and contribute to the nation's goal of rapid, sustainable development.