VietNamNet Bridge – Contrary to all predictions that the bitcoin would “die young” in Vietnam because of the rejection of the State Bank, the bitcoin still brims with vitality.

Bitcoin Vietnam Company Ltd and Bit2C, a business from Israel, on March 25 announced the opening of the first online bitcoin trading floor in Vietnam, named VBTC, by the end of April 2014.

Bitcoin Vietnam said it began the operation in March 2014, providing the brokerage service for bitcoin trade, allowing Vietnamese bitcoin users to buy and sell bitcoin in unlimited quantities.

The managers of Bitcoin Vietnam told the press that while the State Bank has given warnings about the risks people may face when trading bitcoins, the use of bitcoin in Vietnam has never been prohibited.

Nguyen Tran Bao Phuong, Managing Director of Bitcoin Vietnam, said on Buu Dien that the rapidly growing economy of Vietnam would be the fertile land for bitcoin to develop.

With the close relations with the big bitcoin institutions in Germany, Israel, Singapore, the US, Bitcoin Vietnam promises to provide services with the most advanced technologies meeting the international standards.

Bitcoin Vietnam pledges to follow strictly all the rules and regulations relating to the use of the bitcoin in Vietnam, including the application of the money laundry laws KYC and AML which aim to prevent the illegal use of the company’s services.

Bit2C is an Israeli bitcoin business set up in 2012, known as the first and biggest business of this kind in Israel.

The Vietnamese have just got familiar with the bitcoin, but the “bitcoin” community has been growing very rapidly in Vietnam

According to VnExpress, the payment in bitcoin is now accepted in the transactions of five types of goods and services.

A Vietnamese business earlier this year stated that those, who want to post ad pieces on the forum managed by the company, can pay in bitcoin instead of dong.

The first transaction was made sometimes later, worth VND500,000.

In late February 2014, the signboard “bitcoin accepted here” was hung over a café in Hanoi. Some days later, the State Bank of Vietnam released the announcement on the denial of the bitcoin as a currency in the transactions. However, the café’s owner still has been accepting the bitcoins as the payment for his services since then, affirming that the bitcoin is not prohibited in Vietnam.

Unlike the above said ad firm, the café’s representative said the transactions in bitcoin have been made regularly since then. The café is now considered the “general headquarter” of the bitcoin community in Hanoi.

Most recently, a Hanoi-based company announced on its website that it accepts the payment in bitcoin since February 28, 2014. The products the company distributes include electric and mechanical engineering equipments.

The company also announced that it lends in bitcoin, but did not say clearly about the interest rates.

Toys can also be bought with bitcoin. The owner of an online toy shop said in mid March 2014 that he would sell toys for bitcoins once he can finish upgrading the shop’s website.

A professional bitcoin miner in Vietnam said a lot of Vietnamese bosses now pay overseas partners, collaborators in bitcoins. The bosses are mostly the administrators of technology forums. It is obvious that it is easier to pay the freelancers in bitcoin than remitting money via banks.

Kim Chi