Crypto Adoption in Vietnam - part 1.

We decided to interview people from different countries who cooperate with us on the ccFOUND project. We wanted to learn their stories and find out how does crypto adoption look around the world from the perspective of regular people, not the headlines. Firstly, we’ve got Huy Duong, a 28-year-old electrician engineer and businessman from Vietnam, who helps us in moderating our Telegram channels as well as in running a Vietnamese Facebook page.

1. How did your adventure with crypto start? When and under what circumstances did you first encounter cryptocurrencies?

I have known cryptocurrencies since 2015 when I first got a close friend. He invited me to mine BTC by investing money in equipping the BTC mining system. At that time, I was an engineer who had just graduated from college and worked with a salary of 500$/month. The investment of nearly 10 months' salary to mine a currency that the community calls "Virtual Currency". At the time it was a crazy thing to me. And you know, I missed that great opportunity when BTC was still very easy to mine and the value of BTC was only 200$usd. BTC reached a peak price of 20kusd at the end of 2017. The second opportunity came to me in the year when BTC plummeted 7 times to the bottom of only 3$kusd. I didn't miss that opportunity and invested 2.5kusd in it. And then you know, when BTC x10 and I couldn't be more patient and took profits. I made almost 20kusd from crypto for my first time investing in the financial market. From there I started listing cryptocurrencies as my official investment channel. More than that, I have a strong belief that digital currency will revolutionize global currency. And it's still going very strongly.

2. Why did you get interested in this topic? What convinced you?

You know, when you are a first-hand witness to huge profits from cryptocurrencies. No one can convince you stronger than yourself.

There is an idiom that says “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Let's look at the development history of cryptocurrencies over the past 10 years. That will be the strongest evidence for the development and reality of cryptocurrencies. Please emphasize cryptocurrency, NOT "Virtual Currency".

3. Are cryptocurrencies popular in your country? Why do you think so? What is the community like - there are more individual investors or have crypto been appreciated by the bigwigs of the funds?

Absolutely.

You know, although Vietnam has not officially announced any recognition of cryptocurrency trading, it has not banned the development of this. Many successful projects have been, are and will be successfully originating from Vietnam in 2021. Can be mentioned as C98, ANTEX, PTE (play to earn) game genre, it is impossible not to mention Axie Infinity (AXS) ), Elemon (ELMON and The Parallel (PRL)...etc.

Investment funds can be mentioned as Next100 Blockchain, Hashed, Multicoin Capital, Animoca Brands, LD Capital, Kiwi group...etc.

4. How do you see the future for cryptocurrencies?

What do you think if one day all transactions and information exchange takes place with only one integrated number sequence and are not affected by intermediaries? That is probably the near future when the digital economy or more precisely blockchain technology is exploding stronger than ever.

In today's digital society, many people can easily give away their data through online transactions or the smallest acts in daily life. Therefore, the security factor in transactions, management, ... is gradually being put on top. With the ability to share information, transparent data, save storage space and high security, blockchain is considered one of the breakthrough technologies and is gradually changing the way people see.

• Fintech financial technology is gradually dominating the market.

Particularly in Vietnam, according to a report by Fintech News Singapore, the number of startups in the Fintech field in Vietnam increased by more than 179% in the period 2017 - 2020. In which, payment services are still a large segment. accounting for 31% of the number of fintech startups. Statistics of the State Bank of Vietnam also show that, as of 2019, there are 4.2 million e-wallet users out of a total of 100 million people.

In the past, the payments were mainly used in cash, but now, most people have prioritized switching to digital payments because of convenience and security.

• Covid-19 - the driving factor of the digital economy

The sudden appearance of Covid-19 besides the negative impacts on the health, health and economy of the whole world, from another angle, is also a factor promoting the development of the country. DeFi (Decentralized Finance).

Blockchain technology in general and digital currency, in particular, has changed not

only the economy, finance, etc. but also changed perceptions about the future world like digital money, which requires people to understand technology better and have contingency plans to adapt to the new world - the digital world.

Ultimately, I believe cryptocurrency will thrive, be legally accepted, and replace the existing monetary system.

5. Are you investing yourself? If so, what do you have in your wallet? (Of course, if you want to tell us!)

Absolutely.

I do save, but I don't save by keeping money in my wallet, but I buy assets with a sustainable future return value. One of them is real estate. And coming to real estate on metaverse and ccFOUND. ;)

6. To streamline cashless payments and the creation of a digital government, the Prime Minister asked the State Bank to investigate and pilot the implementation of the national digital currency in 2021-2023. Does this mean that Vietnam is developing the digital currency of the central bank or is it more about cryptocurrencies? What’s your opinion about it?

Both of them. According to official information, at the end of June this year, the Prime Minister also assigned the State Bank to "research, build and pilot “digital currency based on Blockchain technology" from 2021 to 2023. So far, the State Bank is the unit that leads the research at the same time "virtual money based on Blockchain technology" (commonly known as a cryptocurrency) and a national digital currency pegged to fiat currencies.

In my view, this is the right direction of the government in catching up with the development of technology in general and digital currency in particular. This is also a good sign to promote blockchain startups to develop in Vietnam when legal barriers are being opened. That shows the initial agreement of the Vietnamese government for this field.

Thank you!