The intention, which was first expressed last year, was confirmed by the deputy trade minister of Indonesia.
The government of Indonesia has resumed its effort to establish the digital asset market that was initially officially proposed in 2021. By the end of 2022, the so-called “crypto bourse” is expected to be operational.
DealStreetAsia reports that Indonesian Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga said at the NXC International Summit 2022 in Bali that the nation still intends to open the cryptocurrency exchange, but that the project has been delayed because of additional preparations:
“We will make sure that every requirement, procedure and the necessary steps have been taken.”
Sambuaga also discussed the necessary pre-launch duties, like determining which organizations “might be included in the bourse” and establishing the prerequisites for them.
The project has been dubbed a catalyst for Indonesia crypto ecosystem by Pang Hue Kai, CEO of Tokokrypto, one of 25 regulated crypto exchanges in Indonesia, with a significant stake owned by Binance.
The national cryptocurrency exchange made its debut in December 2021. A joint venture between the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and the state-owned telecommunications provider PT Telkom Indonesia was said to be in the works at the time.
A local cryptocurrency exchange, PT Kripto Maksima Koin, was purchased by Indonesian IT company PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk for 124.84 billion rupiahs ($8.38 million) in an effort to diversify its holdings.
The total value of transactions involving crypto assets in Indonesia increased by more than 1,000% between 2020 and 2021, reaching 859.4 trillion rupiahs ($57.7 billion), according to statistics from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency of Indonesia. A little under 11 million people, or about 4% of the population, have been investing in cryptocurrencies.
