Reconceptualizing virtual assets as taxable property: Legal and administrative implications for Vietnam

The question of whether virtual assets should be integrated into property tax systems, and how such integration should occur, is not solely a technical matter. Rather, it implicates foundational issues relating to legal ontology, economic classification, and institutional feasibility. Property taxation has traditionally relied on the physicality, permanence, and visibility of taxable subjects (Bird & Slack, 2004). In contrast, virtual assets are decentralized, volatile, and pseudonymous. These characteristics pose significant challenges not only to legal classification but also to the mechanisms of assessment, valuation, and enforcement. Their dematerialized and borderless nature renders conventional property taxation methods inadequate, thereby necessitating a re-evaluation of existing legal doctrines and the development of technologically adaptive regulatory instruments.