Crypto platform CAEX, linked to Vietnam’s VPBank, has secured investment from OKX Ventures and HashKey to boost its capital and pursue a license under Vietnam’s restrictive five-year pilot program for digital asset exchanges. The pilot will admit only up to five licensed providers and requires a minimum charter capital of about $380 million.
CAEX, a cryptocurrency platform linked to the Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) ecosystem, announced that OKX Ventures and HashKey are backing the company. The two offshore companies will join VPBank Securities and technology partner LynkiD as shareholders.
Their investment is intended to help CAEX reach Vietnam’s minimum charter capital threshold of about $380 million. This is a key condition for participating in the country’s pilot program for crypto exchanges.
The move comes as Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance and State Securities Commission press ahead with a five-year crypto pilot. Officials have said no more than five enterprises will be allowed to operate exchanges under the pilot.
The framework caps foreign ownership at 49% and requires at least 65% of capital to be held by institutional shareholders. Authorities have also signaled they may block access to unlicensed overseas platforms once the first onshore exchanges are operational.
A spokesperson for OKX told reporters they could not disclose the size of the investment or confirm selection in the pilot. However, they said the investment would enable CAEX to meet the capital requirements to pursue entry into Vietnam’s regulated crypto pilot program.
“It would not be appropriate to comment further on the regulatory process,” the spokesperson stated. The spokesperson added that, as a strategic partner, OKX would work with other shareholders to ensure CAEX has “the financial strength and technical know-how” to meet standards.
Vietnam’s crypto market has boomed in recent years, with Chainalysis ranking the country fourth in global crypto adoption in 2025. However, that growth has been marred by several high-profile scams and fraud investigations, giving regulators additional impetus to tighten control.
In March 2026, Vietnamese authorities detained multiple ONUS-linked suspects after alleging they used false promotions and manipulated token trading to misappropriate billions of dollars. The OKX spokesperson said Vietnam is an important market for digital asset innovation and that the “development of a regulated framework” is a “constructive step” for the industry.
