Vietnamese Crypto Community 101: Tailoring Your Crypto Project for Success
What do you need to know about the Vietnamese community?
TL;DR
Building a community is essential to the success of crypto projects in Vietnam. With 76% of crypto holders making investment decisions based on recommendations from friends, the power of the community cannot be underestimated.
Telegram and X (Twitter) are the most popular platforms for the Vietnamese crypto community, with Telegram groups focusing on trading, airdrops, and news, while KOLs use Twitter to share thoughts and grow influence.
Current trending discussions in the Vietnamese crypto community include the memecoin craze (e.g., $PEPE, $DOGE, $WOJAK), the airdrop craze (e.g., ZKSync, Blast), and the futures trading craze, reflecting the community's high-risk, high-reward mentality.
1. Introduction
The community is one of the most vital parts of the crypto industry. It holds the element of success for almost every crypto project. A good project without a community can become a dead project. The community is much more than just a group of users or investors; it is a crucial element that can significantly influence the project's success or failure. Since the crypto projects it supports rely heavily on decentralized governance, the involvement of the community is paramount.
In particular, Vietnam, where 21.2% of the population owns cryptocurrency and is expected to rank third globally in cryptocurrency revenue by 2023, has also been growing on the back of its community. As impressive as these numbers are, the Vietnamese market has a lot of potential, and many projects are trying to make inroads. In this report, we will provide a guide on how projects that want to enter Vietnam should build a community.
2. Vietnam, a fast-paced growing community
2.1. Importance of a community in Vietnam
According to a report by Kyros Ventures, 76% of Vietnamese crypto holders invest based on referrals. This statistic underscores the critical importance of a community. A Vietnamese crypto project starts with the community.
Conversely, the project may also end with the community. In Vietnam, the community is the force that evaluates everything the project delivers. If the community finds anything suspicious, it is very difficult for the project to recover.
Coin98's first success was because of community support, but when the community slowly lost faith in them, having a hundred KOLs shilling didn't help much. Although they are still one of the largest projects in Vietnam with a decent ecosystem, currently there is a high ratio of critics to supporters.
Therefore, it is crucial for Web3 projects not only to foster a strong and active community but also to maintain that support to achieve sustainable success.
2.2. How does the Vietnamese crypto community grow so fast?
The Vietnamese crypto community has experienced remarkable growth in recent years. With a tech-savvy populace and expanding internet access, Vietnam has become an ideal environment for blockchain adoption. Several factors drive this growth:
Youthful Demographics: Vietnam is home to a young, dynamic population with a median age of 30. A survey conducted last December by Coin98 Insights revealed that 47% of Vietnamese cryptocurrency owners were aged 26-36, while 38% were in the 18-25 age group.
High-risk-taking culture: Vietnamese culture has a long history of high-risk-taking traditions. This factor has built an appetite for high-risk, high-reward activities. The volatility of the crypto world perfectly aligns with this one-of-a-kind culture.
Educational Efforts and Awareness: Local blockchain communities and educational programs have been instrumental in increasing public awareness and understanding of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, contributing significantly to their growing popularity. From university courses to multiple hackathons, the Vietnamese market is diligently working to leverage experience for crypto enthusiasts while enhancing non-crypto audiences' knowledge.
3. Vietnam community platform analysis
3.1. Telegram
Telegram is the most widely used application in the Vietnamese community due to its many useful features. In Vietnam, communities are diverse and can be categorized into different groups based on their focus. The most common type is trading groups, which cover everything from spot trading to futures trading. These groups often have close relationships with centralized exchanges (CEXs) like OKX, Binance, MEXC, and more.
There are also airdrop channels that post everything about airdrops. Additionally, there is a smaller number of groups for crypto degens, which discuss impactful news, DeFi technology, and more. Furthermore, there are all-in-one communities that encompass everything from trading and airdrops to news and degen topics. These comprehensive communities cover a wide range of subjects, making them the go-to community marketing option for foreign projects looking to enter the Vietnamese market.
Notable large communities in Vietnam include TradeCoinVietnam, HC Capital, Fomonista, GFI, Coin68, etc.
3.2. X (Twitter)
Twitter is a must-have social media platform for every crypto project. All the news shared within the Vietnamese crypto community is often sourced from Twitter. However, before Twitter started sharing its ad revenue, there as little activity on the platform in Vietnam. As the potential for monetization on Twitter began to emerge, it attracted a large number of people who began to create brands and establish themselves as KOLs by writing prolifically on Twitter. Within the community, Twitter has come to be seen as a key channel for determining an individual's brand value.
KOLs can be categorized into two types based on whether they run a community: 1) those running a specific community and 2) independent KOLs. Those who run communities can further be divided into two categories: KOLs who manage communities alone and those who manage communities in partnership with other KOLs.
One caveat to using KOLs in Vietnam is the need to check the relationships between them. If the relationship between two KOLs is not favorable, content supported by one KOL may not be liked by the other. This can result in both supportive and hateful content being exchanged. Therefore, using KOL marketing requires careful research into their relationships. Booking two KOLs who dislike each other can backfire, leading to the spread of FUD about your project.
Having such a dynamic social presence on X gives the Vietnamese community both opportunities and challenges. Projects can attract the attention of a large community, but they also run the risk of spreading misinformation on Twitter.
3.3. Discord
Discord is a well-known platform in the gaming community. With its unique feature of organizing servers, it has also become essential for the crypto community. In Vietnam, Discord is primarily used for the trading community due to its interactive capabilities with custom bots.
However, due to the many sub-channels in a server resulting in saturated notifications, Discord is not prioritized like the other two. It is perceived as a place to receive updates, interact with projects, and access airdrop opportunities. In other words, Discord is considered a project-specific platform.
Many projects have numerous sub-channels for each country, and Vietnam is always one of them. Compared to other countries, Vietnam consistently ranks as one of the most active. This should always be taken into consideration.
3.4. Facebook and Zalo
There are many crypto-related groups on Facebook in Vietnam but due to its restriction of crypto-related keywords and surveillance concerns, people have switched to Telegram. Facebook is only prioritized for crypto job searching and crypto event announcements.
Zalo is a Vietnamese version of WhatsApp, primarily used for messaging. Due to concerns about surveillance by the government and the company itself, Zalo is favored more by the stock community rather than the crypto community.
4. Current trending discussions in Vietnam crypto space
Memecoin craze: With the market appearing to be in a pullback phase, current discussions in the community are chaotic. There is constant chatter about which coins to buy now, accompanied by numerous trading signals. Vietnamese communities can be described by the word FOMO, making buy-or-sell topics highly engaging. PEPE is currently the most discussed coin, followed by other meme coins like Doge, Wojak, Floki, etc.
Airdrop craze: In addition to those interested in trading, there are many communities whose expertise lies in farming and exploiting airdrops. With the recent news of the ZKSync airdrop, interest in future airdrops is higher than ever. Blast and Web 3 NFT are currently the two most discussed airdrop topics, followed by hundreds of new projects.
Futures craze: The nature of high-risk, high-reward leverage trading aligns well with the high-risk-taking tradition of Vietnamese people. Trading signals are shared daily, and the communities actively trade every day. In addition to the goal of making a profit, community owners leverage this activity to earn referrals from CEXs.
5. Conclusion
Vietnam has shown its significant role in the global crypto market. With a tech-savvy population and unique culture, the country offers a promising environment for crypto and Web3.
For global Web3 projects eyeing Vietnam, understanding the local market is crucial. The Vietnamese crypto community is active on Telegram and X. The community tends to be speculative, reacting quickly to short-term price changes and favoring high-risk, high-reward activities.
Successfully entering the Vietnamese market requires a tailored strategy that takes into account the behavior of the local population. Building trust with local groups is essential, and this can be achieved by providing clear, consistent information about the project's technology and vision. Most importantly, the communities need to understand why they should invest in the project. This approach can help shift the focus from speculation to appreciating the project's value and fostering long-term cooperation.
Utilizing KOL resources is also a viable marketing strategy for future projects. However, this tactic needs to be executed carefully due to the tricky ecosystem of influencer marketing.
To sum up, continuous data analysis and research are necessary to keep up with the fast-evolving crypto industry. Understanding the unique personality traits and trends of the Vietnamese crypto community will be key to developing effective market strategies.
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