OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital are backing a new Vietnam-based cryptocurrency exchange as Hanoi accelerates efforts to bring one of the world’s most active retail cryptocurrency markets under formal regulation.
Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange (CAEX) said on Friday that the two companies have agreed to invest and become strategic partners alongside founding shareholders VPBank Securities and digital identity company LynkiD.
The financing will raise CAEX’s capital base to VND10 trillion (approximately $380 million), the minimum needed to enter a government pilot program for crypto trading regulated under Resolution 05/2025.
The agreement comes as Vietnam’s Digital Technology Industry Law, which came into force in January, formally recognized crypto assets and laid the legal foundation for industrial licensing, supervision and incentives. Now regulators are pushing to move activity inland through a pilot program that is expected to license a handful of domestic exchanges, part of a broader effort to restrict offshore trading and tighten control over capital flows.
That combination – legal recognition combined with controlled market access – has sparked a race between local financial institutions and global crypto companies to secure early positioning. Vietnamese users moved approximately $200 billion in digital assets in the year to mid-2025, placing the country among the top cryptocurrency adoption markets globally.
Under the partnership, OKX Ventures and HashKey will work with CAEX on infrastructure, security, compliance and liquidity. The exchange sits within the VPBank ecosystem and draws on VPBankS for financial support and governance and LynkiD for core technology and digital identity.
Vietnam was added to the Financial Action Task Force’s gray list in 2023 for weak anti-money laundering controls, particularly regarding virtual assets. That designation has been a major motivator behind the regulatory push.
The new framework requires cryptocurrency companies to obtain licenses, verify user identities, monitor transactions and submit reports, measures designed to bring Vietnam closer to global compliance standards.
For Hanoi, the bet is that a regulated crypto market can help repair the country’s financial reputation. For OKX and HashKey, the calculation is simpler: get in early, meet the requirements, and grow with the market while the rules are still being written.
