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Indonesia unveils national crypto asset bourse amid regulatory shift
Indonesia has established a national cryptocurrency asset exchange to better protect its growing body of digital currency investors and provide transaction data to regulators. The move comes as part of a broader overhaul of the regulatory environment for the sector, the government announced this week.
The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) has launched the exchange and clearing house to bolster oversight of the burgeoning cryptocurrency market during a shift in regulatory supervision. Indonesia, while banning the use of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, permits investments in these digital assets.
Cryptocurrency investment in Indonesia saw a significant rise during the pandemic. As of June, approximately 17.54 million people in the country had invested in digital assets, outpacing the number of investors registered with the traditional stock exchange. Despite this surge, global interest rate increases have curtailed crypto asset demand in recent months.
Bappebti reported that between January and June, crypto transactions in Indonesia plummeted by 68.7% year-on-year to reach 66.44 trillion rupiah ($4.42 billion). The most traded digital currencies in this period included Tether, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Binance Coin.
The freshly launched bourse will register existing licensed crypto businesses, including Binance’s Tokocrypto and Indodax, among others as traders. PT Bursa Komoditi Nusantara will manage the bourse, and PT Kliring Berjangka Indonesia will handle transaction clearance, as stated by Bappebti chief Didid Noordiantmoko. Furthermore, PT Tennet Depository Indonesia has been appointed as the crypto asset storage manager.
In the backdrop, a new law signed earlier this year instigated the transfer of crypto regulation, supervision, and oversight from Bappebti to the Financial Services Authorities, marking a significant shift in regulatory control. A two-year transition period has been established for this handover.
