Since October 16, 2026, walking into a jeweler and paying cash for one chi of plain ring gold is no longer allowed. Decree 390/2026/NĐ-CP lowers the threshold above which gold purchases and sales must be paid by non-cash means from VND 20 million to VND 5 million per day. At today's ring-gold prices, VND 5 million buys only about a third of one chi (a chi is 3.75 grams).
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng signed the decree on October 16, 2026, and it took effect the same day. It amends Decree 24/2012 on gold-trading regulation, which Decree 232/2025 had already amended. This guide follows a customer's path through the shop: buying, selling back, and buying several times in one day. Where the text is silent, we say so.
What VND 5 million buys
On October 17, SJC 99.99 ring gold sold at VND 142.1 million per tael, or about VND 14.2 million per chi. One chi is therefore roughly 2.8 times the threshold.
Break it down further: one phân (a tenth of a chi) costs about VND 1.42 million. Three phân come to roughly VND 4.26 million, still below the line. Four phân reach about VND 5.68 million, above it. In practice, cash now only works for very small items, under four phân of ring gold. SJC gold bars sold at VND 143.6 million per tael the same day, so every bar transaction, even a single chi, sits above the threshold.
The change is clearest against the old rule. Under Decree 232/2025, in force since October 10, 2025, the threshold was VND 20 million per day, equal to about 1.4 chi at current prices. Someone buying one chi as a wedding or newborn gift could still pay cash, while a two-chi buyer already had to transfer. From October 16, that line has moved below half a chi.
Buying: which payment methods count
The wording changed too. Decree 232/2025 required transactions of VND 20 million or more to go through the payment accounts of the customer and the gold business. Decree 390 rewrites Clause 10, Article 4: when a gold purchase or sale is worth VND 5 million or more per day, the customer must use a non-cash payment method as defined by the law on cashless payments.
So the new text no longer mentions the customer's "payment account" and instead points to the whole body of cashless-payment law. Bank transfers and QR payments from a banking app clearly fall within it. Whether credit cards or e-wallets will be accepted is not stated in the press summaries of the decree. Wait for implementing guidance, or ask the shop before you go.
If you or an older relative has no bank account yet, the first step is to open one in your own name and install a banking app. For a larger purchase, check your daily transfer limit too, so you are not stuck at the counter.
Selling back: money goes to your account
The rule covers both buying and selling. Someone selling back roughly four phân of ring gold or more will be paid by a non-cash method, typically a transfer to a bank account. Anyone who needs cash right after selling must allow for a withdrawal from the bank.
The wider effect is the paper trail. Under the VND 20 million threshold, most one- or two-chi ring trades could still happen in cash and leave no record in the banking system. At VND 5 million, almost every gold trade of half a chi or more passes through the payment system, leaving a record at both the buyer's bank and the shop's.
Several purchases in one day
The threshold is measured "per day". Decree 232/2025 used the phrase "per day for one customer", and the new text keeps the VND 5 million per day benchmark. Splitting one purchase into several small receipts at the same shop on the same day is therefore unlikely to count as staying under the line.
Two points remain unclear in the reported text. First, whether a purchase and a sale on the same day are added together. Second, how trades at different shops on the same day are counted, since each shop sees only its own transactions. Both need implementing guidance.
Changes for shops and workshops
Beyond payments, Decree 390 repeals all provisions on producing, processing, and trading gold jewelry and fine-art gold in Decree 24/2012. The State Bank of Vietnam's eligibility certificate for jewelry production is no longer a condition to operate. Applications filed but not yet processed as of October 16 are terminated, and the State Bank notifies the applicants.
For jewelry buyers, what matters is quality. Under the decree, the Ministry of Science and Technology takes the lead, working with the State Bank, to develop and publish national standards for gold jewelry, fine-art gold, and gold bars. The ministry also inspects measurement and quality in production, imports, and circulation, and verifies the measuring instruments of gold businesses, which means the scales at the counter. The decree sets no new labeling or purity-disclosure duty for shops, so those details await ministry guidance.
The State Bank keeps its role in inspecting gold-bar production and trading and the import and export of gold bars and raw gold, under the amended Clause 5, Article 16.
What still awaits guidance
What is settled: the threshold is VND 5 million per day, covers both buying and selling, and has applied since October 16. One chi of ring gold and every gold-bar transaction sit above it, and payment must go through a non-cash method.
What remains open: whether the account must be in the buyer's or seller's own name; whether credit cards and e-wallets are accepted; and how the threshold is added up across buying and selling and across different shops. Until guidance arrives, the safest course is to pay from an account in your own name and ask the shop which methods it accepts before the gold is weighed.
For people who hold gold as savings, the biggest change is the paper trail: from now on, almost every purchase or sale of half a chi or more is recorded in the banking system. Implementing guidance, when it comes, will show how the open points are read and applied.