The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City is currently trying 16 Vietnamese individuals who are suspected of being behind a $1.5 million cryptocurrency robbery and kidnapping. Among these suspects are two ex-police officers. The incident began in 2018 when Le Duc Nguyen advised Ho Ngoc Tai to sell around 1,000 BTC to purchase other digital currencies. However, the investment did not go as planned, and Tai believed he had become a victim of a crypto scam. In May 2020, he assembled a team of 16 people, including two former police officers, whose goal was to steal the assets back. They tracked Nguyen’s movements using GPS devices installed on his car, kidnapped him at gunpoint, and demanded that his brother transfer the original amount of 1,000 BTC to Tai’s wallet. However, the kidnappers realized his relative did not have the requested amount and had to settle for the return of $1.5 million worth of crypto. The victim was later abandoned in the city of Thu Duc.
Crypto Adoption in Vietnam
Despite being one of the world leaders in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, the Vietnamese government has not yet imposed a legal framework on the asset class. According to the blockchain service provider Chainalysis, Vietnam is the world’s leader in that field with a score of 1.000, and 21% of the locals have used or owned digital currencies at some point during their lives. The “Vietnam Crypto Market Report 2022” released in March of this year showed that the asset class continues to be highly popular inside the country’s borders. Approximately 17% of Vietnamese, or around 16.6 million people, are HODLers. Nearly a third of those have invested in bitcoin. The report claims that Vietnam ranks second to Thailand in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms of crypto adoption.
The trial of Tai and his 15 alleged accomplices shows that even in countries where cryptocurrency is widely accepted, there are still risks associated with the unregulated asset class. The Vietnamese government may need to consider implementing a legal framework to protect its citizens from such crimes in the future.