Vietnam To Ban The Importation Of Cryptocurrency Mining Equipment
After recently witnessing its largest crypto fraud which involved up to $656 million and more than 32,000 victims, Vietnam is putting a ban on importing cryptocurrency mining equipment. Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has officially proposed that the country should ban the importation of cryptocurrency mining equipment.
As stated by local media outlets, some ministries involved in the management of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Vietnam noted their opinions. However, the southeastern Asian country’s Ministry of Finance plans on suspending the importation of mining equipment. This report referred to as Document 5964 / BTC – TCHQ, has been submitted to the country’s prime minister.
One media publication noted that according to the Ministry of Finance, mining machines are not on the list of goods banned from importation and are not subjected to the list of specialized management or unsafe goods, so enterprises are easily allowed to complete the import procedures. The ministry also indicated in its report that the use of mining equipment for bitcoin, litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies in the country is difficult for the authority to manage.
Kinhte & Dothi, an economic news agency cited the ministry: “From there, it is easy for people to use cryptocurrencies as a currency or another method of payment. This is in violation of the amended government Decree 101 on non-cash payments.” It also noted that the data from the general Department of Vietnam Customs indicates that from 2017 to half of 4/2018, the country imported about 15,600 mining machines. In addition to that most of them were imported into Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang. Last year, more than 9,300 rigs were imported into Vietnam and over 6,300 rigs were imported in the first four months of this year.
The ministry also made reference to the case where Modern Tech Corp in Ho Chi Minh City was accused of over VND 15 trillion ($656 million) of fraud by more than 32,000 people through its Ifan and Pincoin virtual currency investment models. As stated by the ministry, protecting the Vietnamese people from similar scams in the future requires state management agencies to take strict control measures with the import and use of this commodity.
The Vnexpress restated: “To prevent other possible events, in the immediate future, the Ministry of Finance proposed to apply the import suspension measures for the above types of mining equipment.” The Vietnamese Prime Ministry Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently signed a directive to strengthen the management of activities related to bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
