South Korean Exchange Bithumb Joins Vietnam's Crypto Licensing Competition via SSI Digital Partnership
Through a memorandum of understanding with SSI Digital, Bithumb aims to establish a regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Vietnam, joining competitors in pursuit of limited licenses during the country's five-year experimental program.
In a move to broaden its international footprint, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has forged a new strategic alliance in Vietnam, coinciding with the nation's efforts to license its first official digital asset trading platforms domestically.
According to Bithumb's announcement, the exchange has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SSI Digital (SSID), which operates as a subsidiary under Vietnam's leading securities firm, SSI Securities, to collaborate on the creation and management of a virtual asset exchange within Vietnamese borders.
While the MoU was executed in Hanoi during March, the public announcement came on Thursday. The agreement additionally permits Bithumb to pursue a strategic equity stake in an entity designated by SSID, contingent upon obtaining necessary regulatory clearances from Vietnamese authorities.
This strategic partnership sets up Bithumb to participate in Vietnam's experimental licensing program for domestic digital asset trading platforms, offering a gateway into what represents one of the most rapidly expanding cryptocurrency markets across Southeast Asia.
Vietnam's tight crypto pilot race
The five-year experimental program for crypto assets in Vietnam, which was introduced in September 2025, mandates that exchange operators must be entities registered in Vietnam possessing a minimum of 10 trillion dong ($380 million) in charter capital, while limiting foreign ownership stakes to no more than 49%. Vietnamese authorities are simultaneously working on regulations that may impose restrictions on trading activities conducted through unlicensed international platforms.
The race to secure these licenses has already become fiercely competitive. According to a Finance Ministry document that Reuters referenced in March, five companies have successfully passed an initial qualification phase, including entities affiliated with private banking institutions Techcombank, VPBank and LPBank, alongside brokerage firm VIX Securities and business conglomerate Sun Group.
Among the most progressed applications is CAEX, which has connections to VPBank and obtained financial support from OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital during April to assist in satisfying Vietnam's minimum charter capital requirements for the experimental program. SSI Securities, Bithumb's Vietnamese collaborator, ranks among the nation's most prominent brokerage houses and established SSI Digital Technology JSC in 2022 specifically to drive its expansion into the digital asset sector. Blockchain forensics company Chainalysis positioned Vietnam at fourth place globally for crypto adoption in 2025.
Based on Bithumb's official press release, the partnership between the company and SSID encompasses cooperation in areas including exchange technology infrastructure, wallet and custody solutions, security protocols and risk management frameworks, regulatory compliance support, and institutional business expansion initiatives. Neither a specific timeline for submitting a formal license application nor a definitive investment decision has been disclosed, and Vietnam has yet to grant full licensing approval to any crypto exchange under the pilot framework.
Cointelegraph reached out to Bithumb for comment but had not received a response by publication.
Korea headwinds raise stakes
This international expansion initiative emerges while Bithumb confronts increased regulatory examination in South Korea following a widely publicized payout mistake and postponed public listing plans.
The cryptocurrency exchange has deferred its initial public offering (IPO) to a date beyond 2028, with company leadership indicating the necessity to bolster accounting procedures and internal oversight mechanisms following prior regulatory penalties.
During February, Bithumb erroneously deposited 620,000 Bitcoin into customer accounts rather than the intended 620,000 won as part of a promotional campaign, momentarily generating over $40 billion in nominal account balances and causing substantial price volatility on the exchange platform. According to the company, it has successfully recovered 99.7% of the mistakenly distributed funds and is currently pursuing legal proceedings to retrieve the outstanding 7 BTC.