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In a first-of-a-kind move in Asia, Indonesia is planning to set up a national crypto exchange later this year before transferring the regulatory control of digital assets to the Financial Services Authority (FSA). This will be a part of its reformed crypto regulation.
The Commodity Futures Regulatory Agency, also known as Bappebti, currently supervises the trade of cryptocurrency assets in Indonesia. As a part of a larger financial reform set in motion in December 2022, the regulatory powers over crypto assets will be passed on to FSA for the next two years, by which time the crypto exchange is set to be completed, as informed by Didid Noordiatmoko, acting head of Bappebti.
Indonesia crypto policy
Indonesia’s central bank wants to bring cryptocurrency and digital assets under a regulatory framework, as per a recently passed law. Suminto Sastrosuwito, head of Financing and Risk Management of the national finance ministry said, “In fact, crypto assets have become investment and financial instruments, so they need to be regulated on an equal basis with other financial and investment instruments.”
The central bank has also released a whitepaper on central bank digital currency called Digital Rupiah. Even though Indonesia, in the near past, has been supportive of crypto assets, the rupiah is still the only legal tender in the country.
Even though there was a surge in crypto investors in the country, trading volume has slumped significantly. Till November 2022, the number of crypto investors in Indonesia had elevated to 16 million, up from 11.2 million at the end of 2021. However, according to Noordiatmoko, the trading value fell from 859.4 tn rupiah ($55 m) to 300 tn rupiah ($19.2 m).
Over the 383 crypto assets and 10 coins that can be traded in Indonesia currently, and Bappebti is also reviewing another 151 crypto assets and another 10 coins.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s economy fared better than most other countries in the South-East Asia region with Indonesia’s bonds outperforming most emerging markets in 2022.
