According to a top-ranking official, the Indonesian government will launch a cryptocurrency bourse before the year ends. “We will make sure that every requirement, procedure, and the necessary steps have been taken,” he emphasized.
Crypto Bourse Soon to Come in Indonesia
The Indonesian government is planning to launch a crypto bourse by year-end, Dealstreetasia reported Wednesday, citing Indonesia’s Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga.
Speaking on the sidelines of NXC International Summit 2022 by WIR Group in Bali, the trade minister explained that the crypto bourse initiative is part of the government’s efforts to protect consumers amid rising interest in digital currencies.
The bourse was originally scheduled to go live in 2021. However, due to complexity of the process, it was delayed, according to the publication.
“We will make sure that every requirement, procedure, and the necessary steps have been taken,” Minister Sambuaga was quoted as saying. “This is proof that we are being careful. We don’t want to be hasty as it may cause us to miss something.” He elaborated:
Many preparations are required to create a bourse. It is important to determine which entities are eligible for inclusion in the bourse.
“Secondly, we need to validate the said entities,” the government official continued. “Thirdly, there is minimum capital and other requirements related to custodian depository, technical things.”
Pang Xue Kai, CEO of Tokocrypto believes that a crypto bourse will increase interest and participation in crypto. Tokocrypto is licensed by Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.
Pang opined:
The industry will grow, we’ll start seeing more local projects.
While Indonesia is open to crypto asset trading as commodities, the country does not accept crypto payments as payment instruments. According to the Indonesian Directorate General of Taxes, it set 0.1% income tax on crypto investment capital gains and 0.1% value-added tax on crypto purchase transactions.
In January, Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) warned that financial firms are not allowed to offer and facilitate sales of crypto assets. However, the country’s Minister of Trade Muhammad Luthfi said in September last year that the Indonesian government will not ban cryptocurrencies as China did. Nonetheless, Indonesia’s top Islamic body, the country’s authority on Shariah compliance, has declared cryptocurrency haram, forbidden for Muslims under Islamic law.
Bappebti reports that crypto transactions increased 1,224% in Indonesia to $859.4 trillion rupees ($57.5billion) by 2021, from 64.9 trillion dollars in 2020. The first six months of 2018 saw 15.1 Million crypto users in Indonesia. They transacted cryptocurrencies totalling 212 Trillion Rupiahs.
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