Seeking to outpace domestic stagnation and regulatory hurdles in South Korea, Bithumb has officially entered the race for a digital asset license in Vietnam. On May 7, 2026, the exchange announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SSI Digital (SSID), a subsidiary of Vietnam’s largest brokerage, SSI Securities. The partnership aims to establish a licensed trading platform under Vietnam’s rigorous new pilot framework, marking a significant expansion for the Korean giant into one of the world’s most active crypto markets.

Navigating Vietnam’s 10 Trillion Dong Regulatory Gate

Vietnam’s five-year digital asset pilot, which was unveiled in September 2025, has set a high bar for entry. To qualify for a license, exchange operators must be Vietnamese entities with a minimum charter capital of 10 trillion dong (approximately $380 million). Additionally, foreign ownership is strictly capped at 49%.

By partnering with a subsidiary of SSI Securities, Bithumb gains a powerful local ally capable of meeting these capital requirements. The collaboration is expected to span exchange technology, custody systems, and institutional business development. While Bithumb is considering a strategic equity investment in an SSID-designated entity, any final move remains subject to Hanoi’s approval. Vietnam, which ranked fourth in global crypto adoption last year, represents a vital frontier for Bithumb as it looks to diversify its revenue streams.

Crowded Field of Institutional Contenders

Bithumb is far from alone in its pursuit. The competition for Vietnam’s first set of licenses is intensifying, with five major firms already clearing initial qualification rounds. Notable rivals include affiliates of Techcombank, LPBank, and the conglomerate Sun Group.

Perhaps the most formidable competitor is CAEX, a venture linked to VPBank that secured backing from OKX Ventures and HashKey Capital in April. These alliances underscore a growing trend in the region: global crypto expertise merging with local banking powerhouses to satisfy the high capital and compliance standards of Southeast Asian regulators.

Escaping South Korean Headwinds

The move to Vietnam comes at a critical time for Bithumb. In Seoul, the exchange has been plagued by operational errors and regulatory friction. Most notably, Bithumb was forced to delay its initial public offering (IPO) until after 2028 following a high-profile blunder in early 2026, where the exchange mistakenly credited users with 620,000 BTC instead of 620,000 won during a promotion.

The error briefly created $40 billion in ghost balances and triggered market volatility. While 99.7% of the funds were recovered, the incident prompted the Bank of Korea to float the idea of “crypto circuit breakers” and led to intense scrutiny of Bithumb’s internal controls. Success in Hanoi could provide Bithumb with the reputational and financial reset it needs as it retools its accounting policies back home.

Disclaimer: CoinScreamer is an independent media brand owned and operated by NuvexMedia LLC, publishing news, research, and market insights on digital assets and related technologies. NuvexMedia LLC invests in and collaborates with companies across the digital asset, blockchain, and technology sectors. These relationships do not influence CoinScreamer’s editorial coverage, and the publication maintains full editorial independence to provide accurate, timely, and objective information. © 2025 NuvexMedia LLC. All rights reserved. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, tax, investment, financial, or other professional advice.

DeFi & FinTech, News, Regulation & Policy

In a move that signals the end of the “9-to-5” era for global finance, Ondo Finance, Kinexys by JP Morgan, Mastercard, and Ripple have successfully completed the first-ever near real-time, cross-border redemption of tokenized US Treasuries. Announced on May 7, 2026, the pilot marks a critical breakthrough in Real-World Asset (RWA) infrastructure, proving that public blockchains and traditional interbank settlement rails can function as a single, unified flow.

Bridging the Public-Private Divide

Until now, the “redemption” phase of tokenized assets has been a significant bottleneck. While an investor could buy a tokenized treasury bond in seconds on a blockchain, getting the actual fiat cash back into a bank account often required manual wire transfers, traditional bank operating hours, and days of waiting.

This pilot fundamentally rewrites that script. The transaction involved Ripple redeeming its holdings of Ondo Short-Term US Government Treasuries (OUSG) on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This action on a public blockchain automatically triggered a chain of events across private bank infrastructure:

1. Ripple initiated the redemption on the XRPL, with the ledger processing the asset movement in under five seconds.
2. The Mastercard Multi-Token Network (MTN) acted as the interoperability layer, routing the settlement instruction to JPMorgan.
3. Kinexys by JPMorgan debited Ondo’s blockchain deposit account and settled US dollar proceeds to Ripple’s bank account in Singapore via its correspondent banking network.

24/7 Global Markets That Never Close

The most significant aspect of this transaction was that it occurred outside traditional banking cut-off windows. By using Kinexys, JPMorgan’s specialized blockchain infrastructure, the settlement was not beholden to the operating hours of the Federal Reserve’s wire system or regional central banks.

“This milestone represents the first time tokenized US Treasuries have settled across borders and banks in near real time and outside traditional banking windows,” said Ian De Bode, President of Ondo Finance. The architecture is designed to be chain-agnostic, meaning it could eventually support redemptions from any public blockchain where OUSG is issued, creating a “plug-and-play” model for institutional onchain commerce.

Shift to Scale

The success of the pilot reflects a shifting focus in the industry: from simply tokenizing an asset to ensuring it can move at scale. Markus Infanger, SVP of RippleX, noted that the XRP Ledger’s speed is effectively neutralized if the fiat leg of the trade takes 48 hours to arrive. By pairing the XRPL with Mastercard and JPMorgan, the institutions have created a single, integrated flow that meets the compliance and speed requirements of the world’s largest banks.

As Raj Dhamodharan of Mastercard explained, the goal is to enable settlement “using existing bank accounts,” bringing the benefits of blockchain (transparency, speed, and 24/7 access) to the existing $100 trillion global financial system without requiring a total rip-and-replace of current banking relationships.

DeFi & FinTech, News

In a move that signals a shift from passive storage to active ecosystem participation, MetaMask officially launched a redesigned Rewards tab today, introducing a smarter way for users to discover on-chain value.

At the heart of the update is a partnership with theMiracle, a behavioral intelligence firm now powering the wallet’s Benefits section. The integration marks the first time that distribution infrastructure and behavioral data have been unified directly within a leading non-custodial wallet.

Addressing the Fragmented Reward Issue

For years, the Web3 experience has been defined by a scavenger hunt. Users have had to juggle Discord notifications, Twitter threads, and fragmented points dashboards to find the perks they were actually eligible for.

This update attempts to close that gap by bringing tailored brand activations directly into the interface where users are already making decisions.

 theMiracle identifies relevant incentives based on a user’s specific on-chain activity. Users can see rewards and loyalty perks shaped by the specific digital assets they already hold.

 As a result, relevant benefits surface inside the wallet’s trusted environment, eliminating the need to hunt across multiple third-party sites.

The partnership reflects a broader evolution in the crypto industry. As a16z’s State of Crypto 2025 estimated between 40 and 70 million active crypto users globally, wallets are increasingly competing to be the primary layer for discovery and retention.

“Crypto wallets give a direct view and access into what people care about on-chain. When behavioral intelligence and distribution infrastructure live in the same system, wallets stay in a trusted environment, supporting meaningful and loyal connections with their users. Brands reach the right audience, which makes every interaction more relevant,” said Danilo Cerullo, CEO and Co-Founder of theMiracle.

Christian Montoya, Director of Product at MetaMask, echoed this shift in strategy:

“The redesigned Rewards tab reflects where MetaMask is heading, from a place to hold assets to a place where owning and transacting unlocks new experiences and benefits.”

Why It Matters for the Ecosystem

For ecosystem partners and brands, this integration provides a “straight-line” path to the right user. By matching activations to users most likely to find them relevant, theMiracle turns raw on-chain data into a closed-loop distribution system.

Danilo Cerullo explained:

“Wallets are already the place where identity, behavior, access, and participation come together in Web3. Matching users with the right benefits based on real user behavior brings together brands, users, and platforms in a way that has been missing until now in our industry, reducing wasted activations, increasing activity in the wallet, and creating more sustainable participation across the ecosystem.”

As the Benefits section rolls out, MetaMask users can expect a wallet that doesn’t just hold their funds but actively notifies them when their on-chain context has earned them a seat at the table.

DeFi & FinTech, News