The crypto world is so quiet now, no big news to talk about.

I opened Alipay and looked at the funds I bought, all showing positive returns in green.

I really feel that buying Vietnamese stocks now is just like buying Moutai in China twenty years ago!

Since last year, I’ve been dollar-cost averaging into the Tianhong Vietnam QDII Fund on Alipay. Looking at it at the end of this year, it’s up about 13%. Of course, making money is happy, but compared to the Vietnam market, it’s just weak—VN-Index has skyrocketed over 40% this year! And my ETF only tracks a small part of it, mainly because there’s only this one Vietnam-related asset available on Alipay, and the index it tracks isn’t that aggressive.

The most frustrating thing is that I can’t buy those super hot stocks! For example, Vinhomes (VHM), a major player in Vietnam real estate, has tripled this year, up over 200%; bank stocks and others are also soaring. Missing out on these top stocks is one thing, but Alipay also limits purchases daily—only 2000 yuan (now only 1000)—making dollar-cost averaging pretty frustrating.

But overall, I still have super confidence in the Vietnamese stock market and plan to keep investing for five to ten years. Vietnam is currently in a golden period of economic takeoff—factories everywhere, young population, exports booming, infrastructure crazy—feels very much like China during our reform and opening-up period. Demographic dividends, manufacturing shift, urbanization—all lining up perfectly!

Just this year, the VN-Index rose 40%, while the S&P 500 only increased about 16%. Purely from a return perspective, Vietnam totally wins. Investing for five or ten years, I definitely won’t lose.

The only pain point is the high barrier to entry—opening a local Vietnam account with KYC is super complicated, with a bunch of procedures, and the language barrier makes it even harder.

If only exchanges could put Vietnamese stocks on the blockchain! Creating a similar on-chain trading experience like US stocks, directly buying xVHM, xVNIndex on DEX or exchanges—so much more convenient! Full liquidity, 24-hour trading, and no more worries about limits and account opening.

This wave of opportunities in Vietnam really feels like the starting point of China’s stock market back in the day.