Recently, the Ministry of Public Security released a draft policy document for the revised Criminal Code project to solicit feedback. In it, the Ministry of Public Security proposes adding provisions that comprehensively cover all types of assets directly related to crime, such as digital currency, digital assets, securities, and property rights.
The addition of this regulation aims to adapt to the evolving realities of the digital economy, while simultaneously increasing the effectiveness of combating high-tech crime, money laundering, and the concealment of illegal assets.
Add digital assets
According to the draft policy impact assessment report of the revised Criminal Code project, the current provisions in Article 47 of the new Criminal Code mainly refer to "instruments and means of committing crimes," "objects or money," "illegally obtained profits," and prohibited items.
Meanwhile, in practice, an increasing number of non-traditional assets are emerging in the digital environment, such as cryptocurrencies, digital assets, e-wallets, virtual assets, property rights arising from technology platforms, or electronic certificates with financial value.
The Ministry of Public Security believes that the lack of clear regulations defining these types of assets makes the investigation, seizure, freezing, tracing, and recovery of assets obtained through crime more difficult, especially in cases of cross-border fraud, money laundering, online asset misappropriation, or the use of blockchain technology to conceal money flows.
Therefore, the Ministry of Public Security proposes adding regulations to "fully cover all types of assets such as digital currency, digital assets, securities, and property rights to suit the practical situation." This content is also identified as one of the policies aimed at perfecting the fundamental provisions of the Criminal Code, serving as a basis for combating and preventing crime in the new context.
According to a review of current policies and laws, the concept of digital assets has begun to be recognized. Specifically, the Law on Digital Industry and Technology stipulates that digital assets are assets, as defined in the Civil Code, expressed in the form of digital data, created, issued, stored, transferred, and authenticated by digital technology in an electronic environment; including virtual assets, encrypted assets, and other types of digital assets. Therefore, the addition of this provision in the Criminal Code is XEM as a step to ensure consistency between laws and to create a more complete legal basis for criminal prosecution.
Expanding the scope of assets that can be confiscated or subject to criminal prosecution will have many positive impacts. First, the State will have more legal tools to improve the efficiency of recovering assets obtained through crime, limiting the dissipation of assets through digital platforms or the conversion of assets into non-traditional forms to evade detection.
Amidst a sharp increase in high-tech crimes, cryptocurrencies and digital assets are becoming a popular means of transferring illicit funds.
Many investment scams, fake trading platforms, transnational Capital schemes, and ransomware attacks use cryptocurrencies to conceal their transaction traces.
Therefore, supplementing the legal framework for handling these types of assets is considered necessary to meet practical requirements.
The policy impact assessment report emphasizes that the new regulations will “increase the ability to recover assets, prevent asset dissipation, and prevent the concealment of criminal assets in new forms; particularly useful in high-tech crime, money laundering, and cross-border fraud.”
In many current high-tech scams, stolen assets are often quickly converted into cryptocurrency or dispersed across multiple cross-border platforms, making recovery almost impossible. When the law establishes clear mechanisms for identifying and handling digital assets, the chances of recovery for victims will significantly improve.
For businesses, especially those operating in the fields of financial technology, payment intermediaries, or digital platforms, the new policy is also considered significant in preventing money laundering, criminal financing, or the transfer of illicit assets through the electronic environment.
New requirements
However, alongside the positive impacts, the addition of regulations related to cryptocurrencies and digital assets will place many new demands on the legal system and enforcement agencies.
According to the impact assessment report, the State will have to comprehensively amend and supplement many related legal regulations, especially the Criminal Procedure Code and specialized laws on mechanisms for establishing ownership rights, tracing transactions, freezing assets, valuing digital assets, and enforcing judgments on non-traditional asset types.
Furthermore, practical implementation also requires significant investment in technical infrastructure and human resources. Authorities will need to enhance their capacity for digital authentication, blockchain tracing, and e-wallet management , as well as train investigators, prosecutors, judges, and enforcement officers with in-depth knowledge of financial technology and digital assets.
For the business sector, particularly fintech companies, exchanges, or payment intermediaries, the new policy could increase compliance costs related to data storage, transaction verification, coordinating asset freezes, or providing information for investigations.
Nevertheless, in the context of rapid digital transformation and increasingly sophisticated high-tech crimes, perfecting legal regulations to handle digital assets is considered an inevitable trend. This is not only a requirement from the practical realities of combating crime domestically but also aligns with international standards on anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing, and control of cross-border illicit asset flows.
