Summary:
Indonesia’s deputy trade minister Jerry Sambuaga told local media on Wednesday that the government plans to launch
a “crypto stock” exchange before the end of 2022 to provide protection for investors amid rising interest in digital assets.Minister Sambuaga told reporters during a summit in Bali that authorities are not in a rush to unveil the platform. However, the government hopes to have the exchange ready for launch before 2022 is over.
Creating a bourse needs many preparations. We need to see which entities should be included bourse. Secondly, we need to validate the said entities. Thirdly, minimum capital and other requirements related to custodian depository, technical things…
At launch, Indonesia’s crypto stock exchange would list 25 local companies that deal in virtual currencies. These 25 exchanges are licensed businesses approved by the country’s top financial regulatory known as the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency or Bappebit.
CEO of local exchange Tokocrypto, Pang Xue Kai, opined that the move could spur diverse growth in the country’s domestic crypto ecosystem. Kai said that “we’ll start seeing more local projects”,
Minister Sambuaga’s announcements come as digital currencies have enjoyed increased demands over the last 24 months. Data shows that local crypto transactions skyrocketed by over 1200% in 2021, with a worth of over $57 billion.
Crypto users also grew between January and June 2022. At press time, there are over 15 million virtual currency users in Indonesia.
Notably, cryptocurrencies are not an approved payment method in the country. However, local financial regulations allow investors to tap digital assets as a trading commodity. In addition, a 2017 Forbes report cited remarks from Indonesia’s central bank suggesting that the country could be poised
for Bitcoin and crypto adoption soon.