# VNPAY-QR

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/vnpay-qr
> research date 2026-05-30 · extracted at 2026-05-30
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [EMV QR Code Specifications — EMVCo](https://www.emvco.com/emv-technologies/qr-codes/)
- [Merchant-Presented QR Guidance and Examples — EMVCo](https://www.emvco.com/resources/merchant-presented-qr-guidance-and-examples/)

# VNPAY-QR

## Overview

**VNPAY-QR** is a Vietnamese merchant QR payment scheme operated by **VNPAY** (Vietnam Payment Solutions JSC, founded **March 2007**, now part of the **VNLIFE** group) <sup>[2][2], [16][16]</sup>. It is built on the **EMVCo Merchant-Presented Mode (MPM)** format and is consumed by scanning a merchant QR with a bank's mobile-banking app or an e-wallet <sup>[3][3], [9][9]</sup>. VNPAY-QR is accepted into the scanning function of **33 mobile-banking apps**, the **VNPAY wallet**, and **8 other e-wallets**, and by **August 2023** the merchant network had grown to over **750,000 acceptance points**, including wet markets, pharmacies and local eateries <sup>[4][4], [5][5]</sup>.

VNPAY-QR is distinct from [VietQR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/vietqr) (the NAPAS interbank QR): VietQR encodes a bank account behind the NAPAS rail, whereas VNPAY-QR is a payment-gateway / acquiring QR routed through VNPAY's merchant network <sup>[4][4], [6][6]</sup>. In the EMVCo MPM payload, the two are told apart by their merchant-account-information template: VNPAY-QR uses **tag 26** carrying the GUID **`A000000775`**, while VietQR/NAPAS uses **tag 38** with GUID **`A000000727`**.

## History

**March 2007 — VNPAY founded.** Vietnam Payment Solutions JSC (VNPAY) was set up by **Trần Trí Mạnh** together with co-founders **Trần Văn Ký** and **Lê Tánh**, as one of the first companies licensed to pilot electronic-wallet payment services in Vietnam <sup>[16][16], [18][18]</sup>. The company grew into a payment gateway connecting businesses with banks for card, QR-code, installment and app-to-app payments; VNPAY-QR today reports **about 22 million users** <sup>[16][16]</sup>.

**~2017 — first QR-into-bank-app integration.** VNPAY became the **first payment gateway to integrate QR code payment into mobile banking applications** in Vietnam, a status formally recognised in **August 2018** by the Vietnam Record Organisation (Vietkings) <sup>[19][19]</sup>. This is the technical milestone that defines VNPAY-QR's identity: bank apps scanning a third-party merchant QR rather than VNPAY having to ship its own wallet.

**2018 — VNLIFE holding established** to own VNPAY and build a broader ecosystem (payments, travel, logistics, commerce); **Niraan De Silva** serves as CEO of VNLIFE <sup>[16][16]</sup>.

**July 2019 — SoftBank Vision Fund + GIC invest US$300 M** combined (~US$200 M from SoftBank, US$100 M from GIC) — at the time one of the largest Vietnamese tech investments to date <sup>[18][18]</sup>.

**December 2020 — VNPAY becomes Vietnam's second tech unicorn** after VNG, at a valuation above US$1 billion, and one of 12 SE-Asian unicorns named that year <sup>[16][16], [18][18]</sup>.

**16 September 2021 — Series B of >US$250 M** co-led by **General Atlantic** and **Dragoneer Investment Group**, with participation from **PayPal Ventures**, **EDBI**, plus existing investors GIC and SoftBank Vision Fund 1 — pushing VNLIFE's valuation above US$1 B <sup>[18][18]</sup>.

**August 2023 — 750,000+ merchants.** VNPAY reported that its QR-code network had expanded to over 750,000 merchants nationwide, reaching into wet markets, pharmacies and small eateries <sup>[5][5]</sup>.

**Bank and partner reach** — VNPAY provides electronic-payment services to more than 40 banks, 5 telecom operators and a large base of e-commerce and SME merchants <sup>[2][2], [4][4]</sup>.

**2024 — VNPAY at scale.** Revenue ~US$128.3 M, headcount ~855 people <sup>[15][15]</sup>.

**International acquiring partnerships:**
- **UnionPay × VNPAY × ECPay (28 December 2021)** — a partnership enabling UnionPay QR-code acceptance across the VNPAY and ECPay merchant networks, adding ~15,000 merchants for a ~45,000-merchant total; VNPAY contributed 17 top merchants across 1,200+ stores. VNPAY is described in the announcement as "one of the biggest QR-code-for-payment merchant acquirers in Vietnam" <sup>[7][7]</sup>.
- **Visa × VNPAY (2024)** — a strategic partnership to advance digital and contactless payments, including **VNPAY SoftPOS** (PCI-CPoC v1.0 certified, EMVCo Level 2) — bringing SoftPOS to Vietnamese SMBs <sup>[1][1], [8][8]</sup>.
- **Cross-border QR** — Thailand's bank cross-border QR documentation lists Vietnam (VNPAY) among the inbound QR schemes Thai apps can scan, alongside Singapore (PayNow), Indonesia (QRIS), Malaysia (DuitNow), Cambodia (KHQR) and Laos <sup>[10][10]</sup>.

## Technical specification

VNPAY-QR is an **EMVCo Merchant-Presented Mode (MPM)** payload — the same plain-text TLV (Tag-Length-Value) string family used by [VietQR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/vietqr), [QRIS](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/qris), [PromptPay QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/promptpay-qr) and the broader [EMVCo MPM](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/emvco-mpm) standard <sup>[3][3], [9][9]</sup>.

**EMVCo MPM foundation** <sup>[3][3], [9][9]</sup>:
- Payload format indicator: tag `00` = `01`.
- Point-of-initiation: tag `01` (`11` static, `12` dynamic).
- Transaction currency: tag `53` = `704` (VND).
- Country code: tag `58` = `VN`.
- Merchant name and city: tags `59` / `60`.
- Integrity: a **CRC-16/CCITT-FALSE** checksum in tag `63`, computed over the whole payload up to and including the `6304` header.
- Underlying symbology: [QR Code](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/qr-code).

**Merchant-account-information template** <sup>[3][3], [9][9]</sup>:
- EMVCo reserves tags `26`–`51` for non-EMVCo payment operators; within each, sub-tag `00` carries a globally unique identifier (GUID) that names the scheme.
- VNPAY-QR's template is **tag `26`** with GUID **`A000000775`** in sub-tag `00`, confirmed in the open-source `vietnam-qr-pay` library, whose VNPayQR example payload begins `...0102112628`**`0010A000000775`**`...` <sup>[9][9]</sup>.
- Beneath the template, VNPAY uses an additional-data structure with sub-field IDs including **`01` BillNumber, `02` CustomerMobileNumber, `03` StoreLabel, `05` ReferenceLabel, `06` CustomerLabel, `07` TerminalLabel, `08` PurposeOfTransaction** <sup>[9][9], [17][17]</sup>.
- This template is the key field that distinguishes VNPAY-QR from VietQR/NAPAS, which lives in **tag `38`** under GUID `A000000727` <sup>[9][9]</sup>.

Worked example fields decoded from a real VNPAY-QR payload by the `vietnam-qr-pay` library: provider `VNPAY`, merchant ID `0105313144`, amount `21090000`, store `CPSHN ONLINE`, terminal `ONLHN`, purpose `CellphoneS` <sup>[9][9], [17][17]</sup>.

**Modes** <sup>[3][3], [9][9]</sup>:
- **Merchant-presented (static)** — a printed VNPAY QR at the merchant; the payer enters the amount.
- **Merchant-presented (dynamic)** — POS/gateway generates a per-transaction QR carrying the amount in tag `54`.

## Use cases

- **In-store retail acceptance** — VNPAY-QR stickers and POS QRs across a very broad merchant base (750,000+ points by 2023), including informal retail such as wet markets and pharmacies <sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **Bank-app scanning** — the QR is scanned from inside 33 banks' mobile apps; e.g. VietinBank iPay Mobile lets cardholders pay VNPAY acceptance points by QR, even funding from a credit card <sup>[12][12]</sup>.
- **E-wallet payments** — the VNPAY wallet plus 8 other e-wallets can scan VNPAY-QR <sup>[4][4]</sup>.
- **E-commerce / online checkout** — VNPAY operates as a payment gateway for 200+ e-commerce enterprises, with VNPAY-QR offered as an online checkout method (including on Shopify via VNPAY) <sup>[2][2], [13][13]</sup>.
- **Inbound cross-border tourism** — UnionPay QR acceptance across the VNPAY network lets Chinese UnionPay users pay, and Thailand lists Vietnam/VNPAY among scannable inbound QR schemes for travellers <sup>[7][7], [10][10]</sup>.

## Implementations

VNPAY-QR is handled by the same open-source Vietnamese QR libraries that cover VietQR, since both are EMVCo MPM payloads distinguished only by their merchant-account-information template:

- **TypeScript** — [xuannghia/vietnam-qr-pay][9] — encode/decode for VietQR (bank QR, Momo/ZaloPay universal QR) **and VNPayQR**; exposes provider name, merchant ID, amount, store, terminal, purpose and reference fields. ~160 stars, latest release v1.5.0 (May 2025) <sup>[9][9]</sup>.
- **TypeScript** — [hunghg255/vn-qr-pay][11] — encode/decode for VietQR and VNPayQR (`encodeVnPay`); ~13 stars <sup>[11][11]</sup>.
- **Go** — [tranvu711/qrpayment][14] — Go QR-payment library with a `QRCode` struct covering VNPAY data: merchant details, terminal, amount and additional consumer data <sup>[14][14]</sup>.

General [EMVCo MPM](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/emvco-mpm) parsers also read VNPAY-QR payloads once the tag-26 GUID is recognised.

**Acquiring / gateway integrations:** VNPAY-QR is exposed as a payment method by third-party PSPs and aggregators (e.g. the IXOPAY VNPAY-QR adapter) and by VNPAY's own merchant SDKs <sup>[6][6]</sup>.

## Comparison

**vs. [VietQR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/vietqr) (NAPAS, Vietnam)** — Same EMVCo MPM symbology, different role and different template. VietQR is the **state-sanctioned national interbank QR** under NAPAS/SBV (tag 38, GUID `A000000727`), encoding a bank account for account-to-account credit transfer over NAPAS 247. VNPAY-QR is a **private merchant-acquiring QR** under VNPAY/VNLIFE (tag 26, GUID `A000000775`), routed through VNPAY's gateway and merchant network. A payer's bank app can typically scan both; the template GUID tells the app which rail to use <sup>[4][4], [6][6], [9][9]</sup>.

**vs. [QRIS](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/qris) (Indonesia) / [PromptPay QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/promptpay-qr) (Thailand)** — All three are EMVCo MPM national/scheme QRs. QRIS and PromptPay are central-bank-mandated single national standards; Vietnam instead runs a **two-track** landscape — NAPAS VietQR plus private gateways like VNPAY-QR — which is why two distinct merchant templates coexist in the same EMVCo payload space <sup>[9][9], [10][10]</sup>.

**vs. [EMVCo MPM](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/emvco-mpm) (the base spec)** — VNPAY-QR is a concrete profile of EMVCo MPM: it inherits the TLV envelope, the CRC-16 in tag 63, currency 704 and country VN, and adds only its tag-26/`A000000775` merchant template <sup>[3][3], [9][9]</sup>.

## Fun facts

**Two national QR schemes sharing one EMVCo payload format.** VNPAY-QR is one of the clearest live examples — VietQR and VNPAY-QR can sit on the same screen, scanned by the same app, distinguished only by whether the merchant data is in tag `38` (`A000000727`, NAPAS) or tag `26` (`A000000775`, VNPAY) <sup>[9][9]</sup>. Two competing rails coexisting in one TLV container is uncommon at the *national* level.

**The pioneer milestone is regulator-blessed.** VNPAY's status as "**first payment gateway to integrate QR code payment into mobile banking applications**" in Vietnam was certified by **Vietkings (Vietnam Record Organisation)** in **August 2018** — a Guinness-record-style civic certification of a payments first that few other countries' QR pioneers have on the books <sup>[19][19]</sup>.

**Two unicorns, two Vietnamese QR worlds.** Vietnam's national QR landscape is shaped by its only two tech unicorns: **VNG** (parent of [ZaloPay QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/zalopay-qr), named unicorn 2014) and **VNLIFE/VNPAY** (named unicorn December 2020, valuation past US$1 B after the 2021 Series B) — same Series B even shares an investor in **GIC** and PayPal's strategic arm <sup>[16][16], [18][18]</sup>.

**PayPal Ventures backs a competing payment rail.** VNPAY's 2021 Series B was the **first PayPal Ventures investment in a Vietnamese fintech** — a striking inversion where the global wallet leader directly funds a foreign national-QR network rather than competing with it <sup>[18][18]</sup>.

**Bottom-up acceptance strategy.** VNPAY grew the QR network into informal retail — **wet markets and pharmacies** among 750,000+ merchants by 2023 — rather than starting from large chains, a bottom-up acceptance strategy that mirrors the deep small-vendor penetration seen with Pix in Brazil and DuitNow in Malaysia <sup>[5][5]</sup>.

## Status

**Active.** VNPAY-QR is one of the two dominant merchant QR rails in Vietnam (alongside NAPAS VietQR), with a 750,000+ merchant network as of 2023 and continuing expansion through bank, telecom and international-scheme partnerships (UnionPay, Visa) <sup>[1][1], [5][5], [7][7], [8][8]</sup>. VNPAY reported revenue of about USD 128.3 M in 2024 <sup>[15][15]</sup>. No deprecation is indicated; the scheme is being extended into SoftPOS and cross-border acceptance <sup>[1][1], [10][10]</sup>.

## Sources

[1]: https://www.visa.com.vn/en_VN/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases/visa-and-vnpay-strengthen-partnership-to-advance-contactless-payments-with-vnpay-softpos.html
[2]: https://smebusinessreview.com/profiles/profile/vnpay-provides-payment-services-solutions-businesses-vietnam-abroad
[3]: https://www.emvco.com/emv-technologies/qr-codes/
[4]: https://moretapay.com/supported-countries/vietnam
[5]: https://www.transfi.com/blog/how-to-accept-payments-in-vietnam-bank-transfer-wallets-and-vietqr
[6]: https://adapters.ixopay.com/en/payment-method/vnpay-qr
[7]: https://www.unionpayintl.com/en/mediaCenter/newsCenter/marketUpdate/8433.shtml
[8]: https://www.visa.com.vn/en_VN/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases/visa-and-vnpay-enter-strategic-partnership-to-drive-digital-payments-in-vietnam.html
[9]: https://github.com/xuannghia/vietnam-qr-pay
[10]: https://www.krungsri.com/en/personal/banking-services/qr-cross-border-payment/asean-countries
[11]: https://github.com/hunghg255/vn-qr-pay
[12]: https://www.vietinbank.vn/en/thanh-toan-qr-vnpay-bang-the-tin-dung-vietinbank-10-html
[13]: https://www.cartdna.com/shopify-payment-methods/VNPAY
[14]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/tranvu711/qrpayment
[15]: https://getlatka.com/companies/vnpay.vn
[16]: https://www.vietchallenge.org/post/vnpay-the-second-unicorn-in-vietnam
[17]: https://github.com/xuannghia/vietnam-qr-pay/blob/master/README.md
[18]: https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/vnlife-250m-general-atlantic-253447
[19]: https://vir.com.vn/vnpay-takes-lead-in-qr-payment-trend-61080.html
[vn-cro]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/VN

1. [Visa & VNPAY SoftPOS partnership — Visa][1]
2. [How VNPAY provides payment services — SME Business Review][2]
3. [EMV QR Code Specifications — EMVCo][3]
4. [Pay with QR codes in Vietnam — Moreta Pay][4]
5. [How to accept payments in Vietnam — Transfi][5]
6. [VNPAY-QR method — IXOPAY Adapters][6]
7. [UnionPay × VNPAY × ECPay — UnionPay International][7]
8. [Visa & VNPAY strategic partnership — Visa][8]
9. [xuannghia/vietnam-qr-pay — GitHub][9]
10. [QR cross-border payments in ASEAN — Krungsri][10]
11. [hunghg255/vn-qr-pay — GitHub][11]
12. [VNPAY QR via VietinBank credit card — VietinBank][12]
13. [Shopify + VNPAY — CartDNA][13]
14. [tranvu711/qrpayment — Go Packages][14]
15. [VNPay revenue 2024 — GetLatka][15]
16. [VNPAY — the second unicorn in Vietnam — VietChallenge][16]
17. [vietnam-qr-pay README — GitHub][17]
18. [VNLIFE Series B (General Atlantic + Dragoneer) — DealStreetAsia][18]
19. [VNPAY takes lead in QR payment trend (Vietkings record) — VIR][19]
17. [vietnam-qr-pay README (VNPayQR example) — GitHub][17]
18. [VN-vietnam.md]<sup>[Viet Nam report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/VN)</sup>

## Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across `reports/countries/`):

- **VN** — [VN-vietnam.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/VN)

## Deployments

_No country reports mention this standard by name._