According to CoinMeta, and as reported by the Vietnamese News Agency, Vietnam has not yet issued its first license for cryptocurrency exchanges. However, five companies have passed the first round of evaluations. In the next step, they need to meet the information system security requirements specified by level and invest at least 10 trillion Vietnamese dong (about 383 million US dollars) in capital. Additionally, Vietnam's new regulations on penalties for violations related to cryptocurrencies and markets will come into effect on September 1st. Experts cited in the report stated that domestic investors will not be immediately penalized for using unlicensed platforms from that date. According to the current pilot arrangements, domestic investors will only be required to trade through licensed platforms six months after the Ministry of Finance issues a license to the first service provider.