Retail Investor Protection in Vietnam’s Pilot Crypto-Asset Market: Disclosure, Platform Duties and Legal Remedies

Vietnam’s pilot crypto-asset market marks a significant shift from regulatory hesitation to controlled legal visibility. Yet this shift raises a question that is often left behind in debates on digital assets. Once crypto-asset activities are brought into a supervised perimeter, retail investors may assume that the market has become safer, although the protective duties behind that perimeter remain incomplete and untested. This article examines investor protection in Vietnam’s pilot crypto-asset market through the relationship between recognition, vulnerability and remedies. It argues that retail investors should not be shielded from ordinary market volatility, but they should be protected where market risk is intensified by information asymmetry, digital persuasion, platform dependency and the practical absence of remedy. The article develops this argument through three connected mechanisms. Disclosure must become intelligible and usable rather than merely formal. Platform duties must address custody, segregation of client assets, operational resilience and conflicts of interest. Remedies must provide investors with a practical path to complain, preserve evidence, obtain explanations and seek compensation when legal duties fail. The article contributes to the emerging debate on crypto-asset regulation in Vietnam by shifting attention from legal recognition to post-recognition investor protection.