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It was a true honour to welcome H.E. Nguyen Van Thang, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, and a high-level Vietnamese delegation to the Canton of Zug and Crypto Valley yesterday.

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Alongside Alberto Diaz (Deputy Head of Economic Promotion, Canton of Zug), we hosted the Deputy PM together with Vice Ministers from Public Security, Finance, Foreign Affairs, the Government Office, the Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, the Chairperson of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam, Vietnam's Ambassadors to Switzerland and to the UN in Geneva, plus senior officials and representatives from Vietnamese banks and financial institutions.

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The morning brought together three perspectives on how Switzerland, and Zug in particular, became a global hub for blockchain and digital finance:

• The Canton of Zug shared why "Small World, Big Business" works: a stable, pro-business regulatory environment, competitive taxation, and a dense cluster of 2,000+ blockchain, ICT and fintech companies employing 10,000+ people.
• CV VC's Co-Founder Olaf Hannemann had the pleasure of walking the delegation through 10+ years of building the Crypto Valley ecosystem, from CV VC's early bets to today's landscape of 1,766 companies, $467B in top-50 company valuation, and Switzerland's outsized 47% share of European blockchain venture funding. We also discussed where the next wave of value creation is heading: finance, AI and industry converging around blockchain as a "catalyst technology."
• Tracy Trachsler (ZIBR, Zug Institute for Blockchain Research) presented how academic research is informing policy and guiding responsible innovation, closing the gap between fundamental research and real-world economic relevance.

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Beyond the presentations, it was a genuinely open exchange on where Vietnam and Switzerland can deepen cooperation. The Deputy PM pointed to Vietnam's scale as an opportunity: a population of 100 million, a young and digitally-native workforce, and roughly $220B flowing through the country's crypto market annually. He also called on us to expand our engagement and investment with Vietnamese tech startups directly. We discussed concrete building blocks: expert exchange programs, policy advice on digital asset market infrastructure, accelerator and incubator partnerships, and stronger ties between our two startup ecosystems.

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For our part, we shared what a decade of building Crypto Valley has taught us, and how we are genuinely impressed by the direction and pace of Vietnam's efforts to build out a clear legal framework for digital assets and a broader fintech ecosystem. Given its market size, digital transformation momentum and reform mindset, there is real potential for Vietnam to become a major innovation and digital finance hub in the region.

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We're grateful to the Canton of Zug for co-hosting, and to the Deputy PM and the entire delegation for making the time to engage so deeply with our ecosystem. Looking forward to seeing where this partnership goes next.