The surge of bitcoin has become an excuse for cryptocurrency scams in Vietnam. The price of bitcoin was 54,663.26 USD per coin. (Photo: AFP/VNA) As the price of bitcoin rose above 55,000 USD per coin since February 19 andthe emergence of a new digital currency – Pi – and other virtual currencies,Vietnamese investors are flocking into this industry.
On March 11, bitcoin was traded at 54,663.26 USD per coin by 3:30pm, accordingto coindesk. The digital currency rose over 87.77 percent this year.
“Digital currencies are listed on portfolios because bitcoin’s price is toohigh while prices of other currencies are just at potential levels, from justsome US cents to some dollars per coin. It might be like bitcoin some day,” HoangNgoc Minh, a cryptocurrency investor, told e-newspaper baodautu.vn.
A global consumer survey conducted by Statista showed that Vietnam has thesecond highest rate of cryptocurrency use, while the most likely to use or owndigital currency is Nigeria.
The surge in trading of cryptocurrencies among local investors in manyprovinces raised concerns from Government agencies and experts.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance said that recently, the StateSecurities Commission of Vietnam (SSC) has worked regularly with the police tosolve cases related to illegal trading of digital currencies and stocks viaplatforms like Rforex in Ba Dinh district, Hanoi or Emrfx in Nghe An province.
The ministry also asserted that currently, only the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchangeand Hanoi Stock Exchange are allowed to organise the trading of securities in Vietnam.
SSC also warned investors to be cautious when investing in cryptocurrencies andvirtual assets and asked public companies, securities firms, fund managementcompanies and investment funds not to provide trading and intermediary servicesfor cryptocurrencies.
However, Pham Duy Khuong, CEO of ASL Law Firm, said that the number of fakecryptocurrencies is rising and they are sucking “blood” from Vietnameseinvestors. The surge of bitcoin has become a good excuse for thesecryptocurrency scams.
Earlier this year, police in Da Nang warned about a new scam via investmentplatforms downloaded from the App Store and CH Play which were issued bysecurities companies.
Despite warnings from government agencies and experts, some members of the Pimining community in Vietnam still stand by the Pi Network. They advocated themining costs are nothing as their personal information is leaked from usingapplications like Facebook or Google, so they just mine and wait until theprice surges.
Dr Ngo Tri Long, former director of the Ministry of Finance’s Price and MarketResearch Institute, said that Pi doesn’t have a clear origin so it cannot bepriced and miners shouldn’t have faith in it. The operation model of Pi is thesame as a Ponzi scheme, which is to pay profits to earlier investors with fundsfrom newer investors.
Even though miners don’t have to pay any fees at the moment to join the PiNetwork, once it get access to important personal data, it might chargeinvestors to continue their investments.
“At the moment, there is no investment, so there is no risk. But once itattracts investment, transactions occur then there will be risks. And the risksmight be more than other digital currencies since Pi doesn’t have a history ormarket,” Financial and Banking expert Nguyen Tri Hieu told baodautu.vn./.
VNA
