Vietnam Shuts Down Millions of Bank Accounts Over Biometric Rules (icobench.com)
- Reference: 0179502864
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/24/005245/vietnam-shuts-down-millions-of-bank-accounts-over-biometric-rules
- Source link: https://icobench.com/news/vietnam-shuts-down-millions-of-bank-accounts-over-biometric-rules/
> As of September 1, 2025, banks across Vietnam are [2]closing accounts deemed inactive or non-compliant with new biometric rules . Authorities estimate that more than 86 million accounts out of roughly 200 million are at risk if users fail to update their identity verification.
>
> The State Bank of Vietnam has also introduced stricter thresholds for transactions:
> - Facial authentication is mandatory for online transfers above 10 million VND (about $379).
> - Cumulative daily transfers over 20 million VND ($758) also require biometric approval.
>
> The policy is part of the central bank's broader "cashless" strategy, aimed at combating fraud, identity theft, and deepfake-enabled scams. [...] While many Vietnamese citizens have updated their biometric data without issue, the measure has disproportionately affected foreign residents and expatriates who cannot easily return to local branches and dormant accounts that had been left inactive for years.
schwit1 highlights [3]a post on X from Bitcoin expert and TFTC.io founder Marty Bent: "If users don't comply by the 30th they'll lose their money. This is why we bitcoin."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://icobench.com/news/vietnam-shuts-down-millions-of-bank-accounts-over-biometric-rules/
[3] https://x.com/MartyBent/status/1968819499865358846
Does not appear to be a seizure (Score:2)
The questionable nature of all this aside, this does not appear to be a government seizure of the funds in all the remaining accounts. Those funds simply remain inaccessible until the account owner goes down in person.
According to the Comsure Group: Funds Status: Contrary to some viral claims of "seizure," official SBV statements describe this as a cleanup, not forfeiture. Funds remain in the accounts but are inaccessible until verification. Recovery is possible by visiting a bank in person for biometric
kinda looks like a cash grab? (Score:2)
A chunk of that money is unrecoverable due to various circumstances like death, and the money was just sitting in the bank, building interest. But of course it's being used by the bank to invest in also. All of that cash is going to get yoinked out of the banks, which is going to ultimately hurt the banks.
And who gets the money? Is it just being confiscated by the government for general use like a tax? Or is there some dedicated public program the money is earmarked for?
And I'm sure they know that there
Bitcoin (Score:2)
Isn't the entire point of Bitcoin that it's completely traceable and all transactions are of record?