Bitcoin users face prison timePeople who pay or accept Bitcoin or other virtual currencies will be fined and face up to three years of imprisonment from January. According to the SBV, Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are not lawful means of payment in Vietnam. The ban does not, however, mention mining or exchange of virtual currencies. The decision about virtual currencies was issued after FPT University released an announcement on October 26 that students were allowed to pay tuition fees using bitcoin, as they considered it a viable solution, especially for their foreign students. When Bitcoin and other virtual currencies came to Vietnam in 2009, they attracted a lot of attention from the investors with the daily transacted value in virtual currencies reaching USD4,000 in 2017.

Source: VietNamNet News December 22, 2017 03:11 UTC