According to a high-ranking official of the Indonesian government, they are planning on launching a cryptocurrency bourse by the end of 2022.
He stated that the government would ensure that they have fulfilled every requirement, completed every procedure and all necessary steps have been taken.
Crypto bourse
Jerry Sambuaga, the Deputy Minister of Indonesia, reported on Wednesday that the government is going to launch a cryptocurrency bourse in the country by the year end.
The trade minister spoke in Bali while attending the NXC International Summit 2022 that was organized by the WIR Group.
He elaborated that the Indonesian government had decided to pursue the idea of a crypto bourse because they wanted to ensure that consumers remain protected, given that digital currencies’ popularity is rising.
The crypto bourse had originally been scheduled for a launch last year, but the process had been delayed because there are a lot of complexities involved.
Minister Sambuaga said that they would take all the necessary steps and comply with all procedures and requirements before they launch it.
He stated that the delay was proof that they were exercising the utmost caution because they did not want to do things in a hurry and end up missing something.
The preparations
The minister said that they have to make a lot of preparations for setting up a crypto bourse. He added that they also need to evaluate what entities should be permitted to be part of it.
The government official also added that they would need to validate the entities they decide to add to the bourse.
Apart from that, they would also establish requirements for minimum capital and more that pertain to custodian depository as well as technical matters.
Pang Xue Kai, Chief executive of Tokocrypto, said that a cryptocurrency bourse can come in handy in encouraging more interest in the crypto space.
He also said that it would also develop an interest in the crypto market amongst institutional investors. He said that this will lead to the growth of the industry and local projects would also be developed.
The Commodity Futures Trade Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) has licensed 25 crypto exchanges in Indonesia and one of them is Tokocrypto.
The crypto environment
While crypto assets can be traded as commodities in Indonesia, cryptocurrencies cannot be used for payment purposes.
The Directorate General of Taxes announced in April that capital gains on crypto investments would be subject to income tax and cryptocurrency purchases would also be subject to value-added tax of 0.1%.
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) of Indonesia warned in January that financial companies were not permitted to facilitate sales or offer crypto assets to their clients.
Last year in September, Muhammad Luthfi, the Minister of Trade of Indonesia, said that cryptocurrencies would not be banned in the country like China.
But, the top Islamic body in the country has declared them haram, which means that it is forbidden for Muslims in accordance with Islamic law.
There was a 1,224% increase in crypto transactions in Indonesia last year from 2020.
