Crypto Mining Demands Ramps Up in Vietnam Amid Bitcoin’s Price Surge

Vietnam is currently witnessing increasing cryptocurrency mining activities, a trend triggered by the current crypto rally that has left most crypto tokens surging the value. Bitcoin was breaking through above $52,000 for the first time since May during the intraday.

According to VnExpress local news agency, crypto-related business people and enthusiasts in Vietnam have witnessed a significant rise in demand for cryptocurrency mining machines in the nation.

Quang Thuan, the owner of a chain of outlet mining shops selling cryptocurrency mining machines across Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, talked about the development and stated that the firm has seen its sales tripled in early September over the previous month. He acknowledged that before Bitcoin soared its value back to above $50,000 in mid-August, the overall cryptocurrency mining hardware market was down in the country.

The increasing demand has triggered a significant rise in the prices of most cryptocurrency mining rigs as the prices of some devices now go for five million Vietnamese dongs ($220) higher than in mid-August. Ngoc Van, a local crypto mining enthusiast, talked about the new trend taking shape and said that the best cryptocurrency Mining GPU machines manufactured by AMD or Nvidia currently cost between $3,500 and $4,400.

Bitcoin mining sellers in the country have seen a three-fold rise in sales since late August, as the prolonged Coronavirus pandemic and the increasing prices of cryptocurrencies have made the cryptocurrency mining activity the preferred investment choice for Vietnamese citizens once again. Le Hung, the administrator of a local cryptocurrency mining community with nearly 80,000 members, talked about this observation and stated that the cryptocurrency mining activities in Vietnam have gained renewed interest because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the current comeback of a crypto rally.

 “First, Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies have simultaneously seen price hikes, and miners have started to make profits. Second, the pandemic has prolonged, reducing investment options, and so more people have opted for coin mining,” 

New Bitcoin Users in Vietnam

Over the past decade, crypto tokens have been a consistently hot topic in Vietnam. A recent surge in the price of Bitcoin has turned up the heat more than ever before.

Using crypto assets to purchase is illegal in Vietnam, but they are still actively purchased as investment instruments. A recent report ranks Vietnam among the top three globally in cryptocurrency adoption, with 41% of its citizens saying they have bought some form of cryptocurrencies.   

The considerable interest of Vietnamese residents has grabbed the government's attention regarding how it can effectively regulate and potentially use this type of currency. After years of warning its citizens not to gamble on cryptocurrencies, the Vietnamese government decided to explore creating its own digital currency.

In July, the Prime Minister of Vietnam laid out a strategy for digitising the government by 2030. As part of the plan, the Prime Minister directed the State Bank of Vietnam to research, develop, and pilot virtual currency based on blockchain technology. As a result, the government’s decision has raised a stir among Vietnamese investors as it seemed to hint at the government’s growing openness towards cryptocurrency, which in the past was largely opposed.