Development opportunities for Vietnam’s blockchain market

Lots of room for development

The year 2021 marked the success of the global blockchain industry as a record amount of capital flowed into the market. The figure of US$25 billion, an increase of nearly 700% compared to 2020, proved the attraction of blockchain to investors, while many domestic businesses and funds were part of the game.

Forum: Blockchain application in Vietnam

The NFT segment alone recorded an increase of 13,000% from US$37 million in 2020 to US$4.8 billion in 2021. The above growth rate showed that investment funds, including traditional funds and long-standing ones, were also interested in the blockchain sector. 

Vietnam has emerged as a blockchain phenomenon in the world. Of the Top 200 blockchain companies in the world, there are seven companies from Vietnam. Vietnam is also in the group of five leading countries in blockchain technology with the index of acceptance of this new technology five times higher than in the U.S. In particular, according to a recently released report by Markets and Markets research firm, the blockchain-related market in Vietnam is expected to reach a value of nearly US$2.5 billion by 2026, 5 times that of 2021. Therefore, opportunities are opening up for Vietnamese businesses. 

Over the past time, not only in the financial sector, blockchain has been applied in many other fields. There is a new wave of traditional businesses that want to apply blockchain technology to many different fields, for example, in the field of E-commerce, typically Tiki and Fado.

In the field of real estate, Hung Thinh Corporation and Moonka have also applied blockchain technology by splitting (tokenizing) their real estate projects. The development of entertainment, sports and art is boosted by applying blockchain technology. Other fields such as agriculture and logistics are also considering the application of blockchain in the ecosystem.

In particular, according to many experts in this field, Vietnam is in the midst of a digital transformation process - a step forward with a huge technological element. Some technologies, if applied at the beginning, will create a favorable start for the future process. Currently, each year, Vietnam creates more than two million workers, of which about 300,000-400,000 people graduate from technology majors. This is also a great potential for blockchain development in Vietnam.

Soon to complete the legal basis

At the blockchain conference held at the recent inauguration ceremony of the Vietnam Blockchain Association, Mr. Pham The Truong, Director of NGS Technology Investment Joint Stock Company, said that Vietnam had all the favorable conditions, and would have the opportunity to become a strong blockchain country. However, the biggest barrier to the widespread adoption of blockchain technology is the regulatory corridor.

“The rapid development of technologies has gradually blurred the boundaries of countries, causing conflicts among technology businesses and lack of legal guidance, leading many businesses to set up companies abroad, but still operating in Vietnam," said Mr. Truong.

Also at the recent launch event of the Vietnam Blockchain Association, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said the Ministry would review and complete the legal corridor of the science and technology industry to create favorable conditions for the research and development, and application of Blockchain technology in Vietnam. They would also consider and prioritize resources for researching and developing blockchain technology.

Currently, the Ministry of Science and Technology is implementing the national key program for the period up to 2025 "Supporting research, development and technology application of industry 4.0", code KC-4.0/19-25, in which blockchain is one of the key technologies of industry 4.0 prioritized by this program.

Mr. Phan Duc Trung, Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain Association, affirmed that the establishment of the association would act as a focal point between regulatory agencies and develop the management orientations in this industry.

Besides legal issues, human resources is also one of the important pillars to help Vietnam develop into a strong blockchain country. Over the past year, there have been over 4,000 job opportunities for the blockchain industry. These opportunities not only come from big players in traditional industries that are transforming to access blockchain technology like Tiki, Ahamove, etc., but also from other foreign companies investing in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Tran Manh Huy, co-founder, CEO of V.B.P.O Joint Stock Company/Dean of Information Technology Faculty of Da Nang University of Architecture, it is forecast that in the next five years, Vietnam's blockchain market will develop strongly and the demand for human resources will be enormous. Therefore, students studying blockchain need to improve their professional knowledge, foreign languages, basic knowledge of machines and information technology.

Currently, some organizations like the Vietnam Blockchain Association are aiming to cooperate with a number of schools such as Da Nang University of Architecture, and University of Science and Technology to build methodical and formal training programs for students. However, a blockchain business requires teams of communication, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and recruitment.

“Therefore, in addition to purely specialized training programs, there should be more training programs for other positions in order to create synchronization as well as produce high-quality human resources,” said CEO of V.B.P.O Joint Stock Company.