Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, is reportedly considering issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to fight the use of cryptocurrency. “A CBDC would be one of the tools to fight crypto. We assume that people would find CBDC more credible than crypto,” said an assistant governor of the central bank.
Central Bank Sees CBDC as Tool to ‘Fight Crypto’
Juda Agung, an assistant governor of Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, talked about cryptocurrency and central bank digital currency (CBDC) during his parliamentary “fit and proper test” to become the deputy governor of the central bank.
Bloomberg reported that Bank Indonesia would like to issue a digital currency to combat cryptocurrency. Bloomberg noted that the central banking has been studying the issue since January.
According to the assistant governor, cryptocurrency assets can be traded in Indonesia alongside commodities futures. These are controlled by the trade ministry. However, he emphasized that they have a significant impact on the country’s financial system, elaborating:
One tool to combat crypto would be a CBDC. People would likely find CBDC to be more trustworthy than crypto. CBDC could be used as part of an initiative to combat the misuse of crypto in financial transactions.
The trade ministry estimates that around 7.4 Million Indonesians have invested in crypto assets by July. That’s a double increase from the previous year. The crypto transactions they made totaled 478.5 trillion Rupiahs (33.3 billion). Plans to establish a crypto exchange are being advanced by the Indonesian government.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia or MUI), the country’s top Islamic body that holds the authority on Shariah compliance, recently declared the use of cryptocurrency haram, forbidden under Islamic law for Muslims.
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