OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital Back Vietnam's First Regulated Crypto Exchange

Vietnam's push to formalize one of Asia's most active crypto markets has attracted major institutional backing. OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital have committed investment and strategic partnership in the Vietnam Prosperity Crypto Asset Exchange (CAEX), joining founding shareholders VPBank Securities and digital identity firm LynkiD in what could become the country's first licensed domestic crypto trading platform.

The combined investment brings CAEX's capital to VND 10 trillion — approximately $380 million — meeting the threshold required to qualify for Vietnam's government pilot program for regulated crypto trading under Resolution 05/2025. The pilot is expected to license a select number of domestic exchanges as part of Hanoi's broader effort to curb offshore trading and strengthen oversight over capital flows.

Vietnam's Digital Technology Industry Law, which came into force in January 2025, gave crypto assets formal legal recognition for the first time, establishing a clear framework for licensing, compliance, and industry development. The move triggered a competitive race among local financial institutions and international crypto firms eager to secure early regulatory positioning.

The scale of Vietnam's crypto activity makes it an especially attractive market. Vietnamese users transacted an estimated $200 billion in digital assets in the year ending mid-2025, ranking the country among the world's top crypto adoption markets by volume. Despite this, much of that activity has remained offshore and largely unmonitored — a situation Hanoi is now moving aggressively to reverse.

Vietnam's 2023 addition to the Financial Action Task Force grey list over weak anti-money laundering controls — particularly around virtual assets — has added urgency to these reforms. CAEX will be required to implement identity verification, transaction monitoring, and regulatory reporting under the new framework.

For OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital, the partnership offers early-mover advantage in a high-growth market while compliance standards are still taking shape.