The Indonesian government's proposed national cryptocurrency exchange has officially begun operations, as confirmed by the country's Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency, known as BAPPEBTI (Badan Pengawas Perdagangan Berjangka Komoditi). This platform will serve as the exclusive space within the country for legally exchanging digital assets.
On July 20, BAPPEBTI officially confirmed the launch of the exchange. Additionally, the agency has introduced a futures clearing house in conjunction with the exchange. The clearing house is an intermediary between buyers and sellers, facilitating smooth transactions.
Earlier reports indicated that BAPPEBTI intended to limit cryptocurrency sales to local transactions while aligning them with global market trends. Licensed traders are given a one-month window to join the exchange.
The project has been under development since at least December 2021. Back in September 2022, Pang Hue Kai, CEO of Tokocrypto, one of Indonesia's 25 licensed crypto exchanges and partially owned by Binance, marked the project as a significant landmark for the Indonesian crypto ecosystem.
Originally scheduled for the end of 2022, the launch was postponed to the June of 2023 due to the review of potential exchange participants. During this period, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan announced that all active crypto exchanges with national registration would have the opportunity to join the exchange.
In 2022, Jerry Sambuaga, the deputy minister of Indonesia's Ministry of Trade, proposed various policy changes in response to the dynamic growth in the physical trading of crypto assets. One of the suggestions was to require that two-thirds of directors and commissioners at crypto firms be Indonesian citizens.BAPPEBTI data indicates that the country continues to be an appealing market for the crypto industry. In 2021, approximately 4% of the nation's population, accounting for just under 11 million people, had invested in cryptocurrencies.
