Vietnamese firms and individuals stop importing cryptocurrency mining equipment

The HCM City Customs Department has said that domestic businesses and individuals have stopped importing bitcoin mining equipment since the beginning of July, Viet Nam News reported.

Last month, reports suggested that Vietnamese regulators were considering suspending the import of cryptocurrency mining equipment. The Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Việt Nam, Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies, are pondering over the suspension of crypto mining machines to improve the management of currency transactions in the country.

The ban was proposed as Ministry of Finance noted that “cryptocurrency mining machines are not on the list of goods banned from importation and are not subject to the list of specialised management or unsafe goods, so enterprises are easily allowed to complete the import procedures.”

“The use of mining equipment for bitcoin, litecoin and other cryptocurrencies in the country is difficult for the authorities to manage. Thus it is easy for people to use cryptocurrencies as a currency or another method of payment, which is illegal in Việt Nam according to the amended Decree 101 on non-cash payments,” Viet Nam News explained in a report dated July 19.

The HCM City Customs Department pointed out that over 3600 cryptocurrency mining rigs were imported in the first half of 2018. Majority of these machines were ‘Antminer’ branded models from China.

“Four enterprises imported more than 3,000 machines this year, while the rest were imported by individuals and organisations, which do not have import tax codes,” it said.

Last year, the department completed customs clearance for over 7,000 bitcoin and litecoin miners.