Bitcoin supporters are once again expressing their enthusiasm following news that Vietnam has shut down 86 million bank accounts for not adhering to a facial biometric authentication requirement.
Various Vietnamese news sources — including Vietnam+ — reported in July that the closure of over 86 million bank accounts began on Sept. 1, with an additional 113 million accounts undergoing verification under new biometric regulations intended to combat fraud and money laundering.
A Reddit user known as “Yukzor,” a former contractor in Vietnam, shared that the enforcement of this law necessitated him to return to Vietnam to avoid losing access to his HSBC account, as no remote solutions were available.
“Is it just me, or is it absurd that in 2025, one must fly back to a country to sort out banking issues? Moreover, they warned that my account would be closed this month if I didn’t return and complete the biometric update,” he commented earlier this month.
“This is why we Bitcoin”
Bitcoin proponents have consistently maintained that individuals should have unobstructed access to their funds, free from government or external intrusion.
“If users fail to comply by the 30th [of September], they’ll forfeit their money. This is why we Bitcoin,” Bitcoin commentator Marty Bent stated on Thursday. Cointelegraph was unable to confirm whether customer funds would be unrecoverable after that date.
Nevertheless, restrictive capital controls of this kind have previously occurred in Lebanon, Turkey, Venezuela, Cyprus, Nigeria, India, and numerous other nations since the emergence of Bitcoin, making it “naive to believe that Vietnam will be the last,” Bent noted in a separate article for TFTC on Thursday.
The stringent regulations — which Bitcoin advocate Daniel Batten mentioned would provide Vietnam’s central bank with enhanced financial surveillance capability — underline the necessity of permissionless monetary systems like Bitcoin to guard against government overreach.
“Once you utilize Bitcoin as your banking solution correctly, concerns about government or central bank mandates for biometric verification cease to exist,” Bent asserted.
“That’s a powerful capability that much of the world has yet to recognize.”
Banking biometrics aimed at combating fraud
Vietnam enacted these measures following a rise in generative AI and advanced spoofing tactics to evade security protocols like liveness detection in recent times.
In May, local authorities dismantled an AI-driven money laundering operation utilizing counterfeit facial scans to launder an estimated 1 trillion Vietnamese dong ($39 million).
To comply, bank customers must undergo initial facial biometric authentication, and again for online transfers exceeding 10 million Vietnamese dong ($379), as stated by the State Bank of Vietnam in late June.
Related: Blockchain security must localize to stop Asia’s crypto crime wave
Furthermore, combined transactions exceeding 20 million Vietnamese dong ($758) would also necessitate biometric verification.
However, a crypto executive based in Vietnam informed Cointelegraph that these developments may be exaggerated and that most locals remain unaffected, emphasizing that the changes primarily concern foreign residents with dormant accounts.
“It doesn’t appear to be a widespread local concern,” they remarked.
AICEAN’s chief marketing officer Herbert Sim, currently in Vietnam, conveyed to Cointelegraph that the situation particularly impacts foreigners who have left the country or those with casual, inactive, or forgotten accounts.
“The requirement for [One-Time Passwords] and phone-binding, along with the necessity for in-person biometric verification, present significant challenges,” remarked Sim, who is also known as the “Bitcoin Man.”
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