In a sweeping move that has sent shockwaves through Vietnam’s financial sector, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has deactivated over 86 million bank accounts as part of a rigorous enforcement of new biometric verification rules. The purge, which began in early September, affects nearly half of the nation’s estimated 200 million bank accounts, highlighting the aggressive push toward a fully digitized economy. Banks are scrambling to onboard users through pop-up biometric stations, but compliance rates remain low at around 57%, per SBV data. Biometric data, once submitted, is stored in a national registry, raising alarms about surveillance and data breaches. As Vietnam navigates this biometric frontier, the world watches closely, pondering the true cost of a cashless society.