In 2021, Bappebti will increase its surveillance and monitoring of activities in commodity futures trading that did not have Bappebti's license.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) of the Trade Ministry has blocked 68 illegal websites on commodity futures trading.

"In 2021, Bappebti will increase its surveillance and monitoring of activities in commodity futures trading that did not have Bappebti's license," the agency's head, Sidharta Utama, noted in a statement here on Thursday.

The move aims to protect the public from illegal investment in commodity futures trading that might be detrimental and to offer legal certainty in commodity futures trading.

The agency has worked closely with the Communication and Informatics Ministry and domain name registrar in Indonesia to block the websites. In 2020, Bappebti had blocked 1,911 illegal websites in futures trading.

The websites blocked in January 2021 are mostly foreign futures trading sites, Utama stated.

Legal entities in Indonesia or abroad that did not have a license from Bappebti are not allowed to conduct futures trading activities in the country, including promotion or advertising, training, and meeting on futures trading in Indonesia.

The agency's head of regulation and law enforcement, M. Syist, stated that Bappebti had blocked the website, so they could not be accessed in Indonesia.

Syist pointed out that illegal futures trading brokers usually had introducing brokers as their representatives in Indonesia.

"They confidently offered commodity futures contract, forex, and index in Indonesia based on their claims of having the legality from regulators in their countries of origin. Of course, this has violated the regulation in Indonesia and has the potential to harm the public," Syist cautioned.

In addition to foreign brokers’ websites, the agency found websites with activities in binary options.

Binary options are forms of options trading that offer two possible outcomes of either to make a predetermined profit or lose the money put into the trade.

Such mechanism runs counter to the law on commodity futures trading in Indonesia.

"As the binary options did not have the legality from the regulator in Indonesia, any dispute between customers and provider of the binary options application could not be mediated by Bappebti, as the regulator in futures trading," he stated.
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Translator: Sella P Gareta, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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