Coffee – a national resource with untapped potential
Vietnam is the world’s number one Robusta exporter, contributing an average of 3.5–4 billion USD per year. But most of the added value still lies in the stages outside the border: roasting, commodity trading and financial derivatives. Domestically, farmers, cooperatives and businesses mainly benefit from the stages of production – purchasing – preliminary processing, which have thin profit margins and are vulnerable to price fluctuations.
The gap between the real value of coffee beans and the financial value they can generate remains huge. In the digital economy era, Vietnam needs a new model to “unlock” the potential of coffee – a sustainable resource with a clear national brand.
CoffeFi – RWA puts Vietnamese coffee on the international financial map
CoffeFi was formed from the philosophy: “Each coffee bean is not just an agricultural product, but a globally valuable asset.”
Applying blockchain and RWA (Real World Asset) standards, CoffeFi digitizes components of the coffee value chain: from green coffee/finished products, storage - guarantees, farms/factories/cooperatives, F&B chains, to export contracts and inventories.
When these components are standardized into collateralized digital assets, they can be traded, mortgaged, lent, staked, converted, and attract international capital. This is a shift from “selling products” to “issuing – managing – trading assets”, bringing Vietnamese coffee into the era of financialization: more transparency, higher liquidity, and deeper integration with global capital markets.
Tokenizing coffee – a new door for Vietnamese agriculture
The CoffeFi ecosystem revolves around three complementary asset classes:
- CAF (Coffee Asset Token): represents 1 kg of real coffee, allowing for small capital investments, benefiting from commodity price fluctuations and having the right to convert to physical products according to standards.
- SCAF (Staked Coffee Asset Facilities): Encrypt farms, factories, and escrow warehouses; investors directly participate in agricultural assets, share profits, and co-govern according to the DAO model.
- RCF (Revenue-sharing Coffee Franchise): Sharing revenue of standard F&B brand chains helps businesses raise capital transparently, while investors benefit from real cash flow.
These three asset classes form a “closed loop” between farmers – businesses – investors – financial markets, thereby transferring value from the commodity stage to the asset stage.
Strategic benefits for Vietnam
Increase national economic value. From 1 kg of coffee, a digital asset unit that can be traded across borders is created, helping to revalue resources based on international standards.
Attracting international capital into agriculture. Global investors can directly access the risk/return of Vietnamese coffee without the need for cumbersome intermediaries.
Stabilize income for farmers and cooperatives. Farms use digital assets as collateral to access credit, reducing dependence on traders and the risk of seasonal "sell-offs".
Market transparency. Traceability, quality standardization, inventory control and on-chain guaranty processes help reduce information asymmetry.
Create national competitive advantage. Vietnam has the opportunity to pioneer bringing agricultural products to the digital asset market, setting new standards for the region.
Infrastructure and governance – prerequisites for agricultural RWA
For the model to operate sustainably, the ecosystem needs to synchronize four layers:
- Technology infrastructure: Open standard compatible blockchain, connecting wallets - exchanges - custody, with oracle/appraisal modules to reflect "real assets" on the chain.
- Guarantee – storage – inspection: Standardize storage points, documentation processes, and independent custodians to ensure 1:1 match between on-chain and off-chain assets.
- Legal standards – valuation – auditing: contractual framework, valuation methods, periodic audit procedures; information disclosure and credit event handling mechanisms.
- Economic design (tokenomics): equitable distribution of benefits among producers, processors, F&B systems and investors; long-term incentive mechanisms instead of short-term speculation.
When the above four layers operate coherently, CoffeFi becomes not just a “new financial product” but asset operating system for the entire coffee industry.
Vision: Vietnam becomes a "coffee asset powerhouse"
By 2030, CoffeFi aims to: tokenize 500,000–1,000,000 tons per year; create a “National Coffee Reserve” on a digital platform; connect over 1,000 F&B businesses and qualified farms; become the largest agricultural RWA center in Southeast Asia; and attract 1–3 billion USD in international capital per year.
It is not only a goal of scale, but also a new standard of transparency, capital efficiency and resilience of Vietnamese agriculture to global fluctuations.
Conclude
CoffeFi opens a different direction for Vietnamese agriculture: turning local resources into transparent, liquid and internationally managed financial assetsWhen coffee beans are both consumed and invested in, their value does not stop at the morning cup, but becomes part of the modern capital market – where Vietnam can confidently step up as a pioneer.
Eric Vuong
Chairman of BOD
HVA Investment Joint Stock Company
