Embed Financial Group Holdings Pte Ltd ("EFGH") and Digital Asset Protection HHP High-Tech Center JSC ("DAP HHP High-Tech Center") signed two agreements to form a joint-venture to build VNL1, a national blockchain infrastructure platform for Vietnam, and forge a comprehensive partnership to develop five other related national-scale digital projects.

The partners will form a JV company, VNL1 Co., Ltd., to build and operate VNL1 – a landmark project intended to support Vietnam's Draft Decree on the Identification, Authentication, and Traceability of Products and Goods. The decree mandates a national blockchain platform to be operational by 1 April 2027 and overseen by the Ministry of Public Security.

VNL1 will address a major counterfeiting problem faced by the manufacturing and food sectors in particular. Vietnam's National Assembly's Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs estimates that production and trading of counterfeit goods rose by over 47 percent last year.

Regulatory responsibility is currently split across five ministries with no unified data layer. VNL1 will be established as a Layer 2 blockchain settling on Ethereum that targets 1,000+ transactions per second at no more than USD 0.01 each, hosted on Vietnam-domiciled infrastructure. It will support two key platforms.

V-TRUST will generate GS1-compatible unique product codes and log custody transfers using government-issued digital identifiers, giving regulators and consumers a tamper-evident provenance record verifiable by QR or NFC scan.

V-STABLE will complement V-TRUST by serving as the sovereign settlement rail for Vietnam's emerging "finternet." Designed as a fully compliant digital token backed by the Vietnamese Dong, with reserves held exclusively in State Bank of Vietnam-approved instruments, V-STABLE will enable instant, regulated, and low-cost financial settlement across the digital economy while preserving national monetary sovereignty. While reserve yields may organically offset VNL1's operating costs, its primary role is to underpin trusted, real-time settlement at scale.

The JV company will be incorporated within 90 days with a committed capital of approximately USD 8 million. EFGH will contribute technology covering the blockchain stack while DAP HHP High-Tech Center will support in areas of regulatory licences and government relationships.