Five approaches, five national contexts
Estonia - a pioneer with KSI Blockchain
Estonia is widely regarded as one of the earliest models of a digital nation. With a population of around 1.3 million, the country has digitized nearly all public services and deployed the X-Road platform combined with KSI Blockchain since the 2010s. In this model, blockchain does not store administrative data directly instead, it stores cryptographic proofs (hashes) to verify that data has not been altered.
Estonia's strengths lie in its lean architecture, GDPR-compliant privacy protection, and fast deployment enabled by the country's small scale, centralized institutions, and high level of digitization. However, this model is difficult to replicate as-is for Vietnam, a country of over 100 million people with a multi-tiered administrative system, dozens of ministries, and millions of businesses. A "single-network" architecture would struggle to meet the scaling and workload-separation requirements at this size.
That said, the core lesson from Estonia remains universally valuable: source data should be stored off-chain, while blockchain serves as the immutable verification and proof layer. This is precisely the principle NDAChain has adopted in Vietnam's national blockchain architecture.
The EU - EBSI and the multi-sovereignty federal model
The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) was launched by the European Union in 2018 with participation from all 27 EU member states, plus Norway and Liechtenstein. The infrastructure was built to support public-sector use cases such as digital identity, electronic credentials, notarization, and supply chain traceability. Each country operates its own node under a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism, while strictly adhering to GDPR and eIDAS 2.0 standards.
🔑 Read more: What Is EBSI? The Role of EBSI in Europe’s Digital Infrastructure
EBSI's strength lies in its ability to balance data interoperability with the digital sovereignty of each member state, well-suited to a multi-sovereignty union like the EU.
However, this model has limitations when compared to Vietnam's context. Reaching consensus across dozens of countries makes protocol upgrades and operational coordination significantly slower. Vietnam, by contrast, is a unitary state with a unified administrative system, meaning its architectural and governance requirements are fundamentally different.
Nevertheless, EBSI offers an important lesson: a modern national blockchain must be compatible with international standards such as W3C DID, GDPR, and eIDAS 2.0. This is exactly the direction NDAChain is pursuing, with the did:nda method already registered in the W3C DID Method Registry and officially published on the DID Universal Resolver.
China - BSN and the "network of networks"
The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) was launched by China in 2020 as a national-scale blockchain infrastructure. Rather than building a single Layer 1, BSN operates as a multi-chain model, supporting multiple protocols such as Hyperledger Fabric, FISCO BCOS, and Ethereum-compatible chains for different application groups.
BSN's greatest strength is its ability to scale rapidly at very large size. The system deploys hundreds of nodes across many cities, integrates the RealDID decentralized identity framework, and gives enterprises access to blockchain at significantly lower cost.
🔑 Read more: What is BSN (Blockchain-based Service Network)? A Complete A–Z Overview
However, the "network of networks" model also brings high governance and security complexity. With a population of over 1.4 billion, China requires an architecture optimized for an enormous and deeply distributed set of use cases, a context not entirely comparable to Vietnam's.
That said, BSN demonstrates two important lessons: the state's leading role, and the public–private cooperation model in infrastructure operation. This is also the direction NDAChain is developing, with a network of 49 validator nodes involving both state agencies and major technology enterprises (SunGroup, Zalo, Masan, MISA, Sovico, VNVC, and others), forming a multi-stakeholder trust infrastructure layer at national scale.
Singapore — use-case-driven approach, leveraging global infrastructure
Singapore has not built a unified national blockchain. Instead, it deploys solutions tailored to specific problems. The country developed SingPass MyInfo for digital identity, Project Ubin for interbank payments, and Project Guardian for financial asset tokenization. Many of these projects run on Ethereum, Polygon, or permissioned blockchains deployed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in collaboration with international financial institutions.
Singapore's model excels in flexibility and the ability to quickly leverage emerging technologies from the global market, reducing the cost of building proprietary infrastructure and accelerating the pace of experimentation.
However, this approach also reflects Singapore's unique context: a small nation of around 5.7 million people positioned as an international financial hub. Vietnam, by contrast, is pursuing a strategy of digital sovereignty and building an autonomous Layer 1 infrastructure for national data, a fundamentally different direction in both scale and objective.
That said, Singapore offers one important lesson: blockchain deployment must be accompanied by a flexible regulatory sandbox. This is a direction Vietnam is actively advancing through the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Centre (VIFC-HCMC) under Resolution 222/2025/QH15.
India - Vishvasya and the federated approach
In 2024, India launched its national blockchain platform Vishvasya, featuring components such as NBFLite and Praamaanik, following a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) model. Rather than building a single centralized system, the central government provides the core infrastructure while individual states deploy use cases suited to their specific needs.
Notably, Vishvasya does not operate in isolation, it is integrated with India's large-scale digital ecosystem, including Aadhaar (biometric identity), DigiLocker (digital document storage), and UPI (digital payments). This combination forms a digital public infrastructure capable of serving over 1.4 billion people.
India's model suits its federal structure, where states have significant autonomy in operations and policy. Vietnam, by contrast, is a unitary state with a more centralized governance system, meaning the requirements for data synchronization and national operational standards are considerably higher.
That said, the key lesson from India is clear: blockchain should not stand alone. Real value only emerges when blockchain is integrated with existing digital infrastructure identity, payments, and public services. This is a direction Vietnam can actively pursue through the interoperability of NDAChain with VNeID, NAPAS, and other national data platforms.
🔑 Read more: Comparing National Layer 1 Blockchains: How NDAChain, EBSI and BSN Lead the Way
NDAChain: national blockchain infrastructure for a sovereign and self-reliant nation
A mid-sized country with unified administrative governance
Vietnam is a country of over 100 million people with a rapidly growing economy, and it has a distinct advantage: a unified administrative governance system from central to local level. This context makes it difficult to directly apply either the ultra-small model like Estonia's or the hyper-distributed models like China's BSN or India's Vishvasya.
NDAChain is positioned along a more balanced path: maintaining a unified trust layer at the national level, while still allowing flexible expansion by sector. The Rootchain-Centric Hierarchical Multichain architecture enables the entire system to share a common verification foundation, while each sector can operate its own Domain Chain tailored to its specific workflows.
This approach allows Vietnam to ensure consistency in national data governance while avoiding the scaling constraints of a "one chain for everything" model. This is the architecture published in Whitepaper v2 and currently being deployed on NDAChain.
Digital sovereignty - infrastructure autonomy, standards interoperability
On the question of national blockchain, Vietnam has chosen a clear direction: autonomy at the core infrastructure layer, while remaining compatible with international standards at the protocol and data verification layer.
Specifically, NDAChain is operated by a validator network located within Vietnamese territory, with data processed domestically and technology developed by Vietnamese entities. This ensures data sovereignty and the ability to control infrastructure at the national level.
At the same time, NDAChain complies with international standards including W3C DID, the Verifiable Credentials Data Model, GDPR, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and eIDAS 2.0. As a result, DIDs and VCs issued from Vietnam can still be verified and used within W3C-compliant global ecosystems.
This approach creates a balanced position: no dependence on foreign infrastructure at the Layer 1 level, while remaining fully connected to the international standards ecosystem. This is what distinguishes NDAChain's positioning among national blockchain models today.
Shared infrastructure, not a proprietary platform
NDAChain is designed to serve as shared national-level blockchain infrastructure, operated under the coordination of the National Data Association (NDA), rather than being owned by any single agency or enterprise.
The current validator network includes participation from both the public and private sectors: from the National Data Association to major technology, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing enterprises such as Zalo, MISA, Masan, Sovico, VNVC, TH Group, Phygital Labs, and others.
This multi-stakeholder structure helps NDAChain avoid becoming a "closed" system or a proprietary platform, while creating a more transparent verification and governance mechanism at national scale.
This is the "state-led, enterprise-participated, citizen-benefited" model, reflecting precisely the philosophy of the National Blockchain Strategy.
Strategic lessons for the 2026–2030 period
Five strategic lessons can be drawn from international models for Vietnam's national blockchain journey.
First, there is no one-size-fits-all model. Estonia, the EU, China, and Singapore each built blockchain according to their own institutional structure, population scale, and policy priorities. For Vietnam, the right choice is not to copy any single model, but to build an architecture that simultaneously meets the requirements of unified governance, scalability, and digital sovereignty.
Second, international standards are necessary but not sufficient. Compliance with W3C DID, Verifiable Credentials, GDPR, and ISO/IEC 27001 enables global interoperability. However, long-term value also depends on the ability to operate autonomously, proactively upgrade protocols, and enforce domestic legal decisions without relying on external platforms.
🔑 Read more: Global Blockchain Layer 1 Map 2026: The Position of Vietnam's NDAChain
Third, the public–private cooperation model is the most sustainable structure. Purely state-run infrastructure often lacks innovation speed, while a fully private model struggles to build national-level trust. Experience from EBSI, BSN, and NDAChain shows that combining regulatory agencies with technology enterprises helps balance neutrality, technical capability, and ecosystem scalability.
Fourth, international interoperability must be prepared early. The registration of the did:nda method in the W3C DID Method Registry, along with cross-border on-chain verification activities within ASEAN, positions Vietnam to join global digital trust networks from an early stage. The value of national blockchain is only fully realized when it can interact with compatible international ecosystems.
Fifth, an incremental roadmap matters more than short-term speed. Estonia took more than a decade to complete its e-government transformation, and EBSI is still deploying use cases in phases. For NDAChain, the right approach is to gradually expand Domain Chains during the 2026–2030 period, then move toward regional and international interoperability in the following phase, aligned with the absorption capacity of regulators, enterprises, and citizens.
Positioning through execution
A national blockchain platform is not defined by claims of being "the largest" or "the most advanced", it is defined by its real-world deployment capability. True value lies in the number of live use cases, the stability of the validator infrastructure, the degree of international standards compliance, and the capacity for cross-border connectivity.
During 2025–2026, Vietnam has laid the first foundations for its own path: NDAChain has been positioned as the data verification layer for national infrastructure, the did:nda method has been registered in the W3C DID Method Registry, and cross-border on-chain verification transactions within ASEAN have begun to materialize.
🔑 Read more: Vietnam Leads Southeast Asia in Global W3C-Compliant DID Interoperability
From these steps, NDAChain's positioning is becoming increasingly clear: a national blockchain infrastructure that balances unified governance with flexible scalability, data sovereignty with international interoperability, and state direction with enterprise participation.
This may not be the loudest or most extreme model, but it is the model suited to Vietnam's context. And in infrastructure strategies that span decades, fit always matters more than short-term declarations.
👉 Learn more about NDAChain - Vietnam's National Blockchain Infrastructure at https://ndachain.vn/en
