Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has proposed letting small and medium enterprises use digital assets, virtual assets and intellectual property as collateral for bank loans, a move that could widen the range of assets companies can pledge when they borrow. The draft amendment would also expand acceptable collateral to include future-formed assets and other intangible assets.
The proposal was opened for public feedback from May 25 to May 29, 2026, and the ministry plans to send it to the National Assembly in October. If lawmakers approve it, the rules would take effect on July 1, 2027, giving banks and borrowers a new path into credit at a time when many firms still struggle to secure financing.
That matters in Vietnam because small and medium enterprises account for more than 98% of registered businesses, yet they receive only about 19% to 20% of total banking credit. Outstanding SME loans reached nearly VND 3.8 quadrillion, or about $144.2 billion, by the end of April 2026, showing both the scale of the market and the limits of the current lending model.
The draft also pushes lenders to look more at cash flows, business plans and credit ratings instead of relying mainly on fixed-asset security. That shift could matter for companies with little land or property to pledge, but it also leaves banks with a harder task: they would need a way to value volatile digital assets and decide how to handle liquidation risk, and the proposal does not spell out either step.
The change fits a broader effort to give the private sector a larger role in growth under Politburo Resolution 68-NQ/TW. It also comes against a legal backdrop that has been cautious toward virtual assets. In 2017, the State Bank of Vietnam prohibited their use for payments, even as the government later launched a five-year pilot from 2025 to 2026 to oversee digital asset exchanges and license service providers, with several banks and conglomerates involved.
If the plan survives the feedback stage and clears the legislature, the real test will not be whether more collateral is allowed, but whether lenders can turn digital assets into security they trust. Without that answer, the promise of broader access to loans could arrive faster than the banking system’s ability to use it.
