The 383 types of crypto assets that have been legalized have been assessed as relatively safe by the governmentJakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has been paying increasingly greater attention to the worldwide emergence of crypto currencies and regulated crypto-asset transactions.
In a bid to provide legal assurances to the public on every traded crypto asset, the Ministry of Trade’s Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti/CoFTRA) has tightened supervision of crypto-asset trading. Trading a crypto asset may only be conducted electronically by crypto-asset traders in a future market as approved by Bappebti.
So far, over 20 thousand types of crypto assets are traded worldwide, though only 383 of them -- from the initial 229 units -- are recognized and licensed by the Indonesian government to be traded by 25 registered companies.
The increase in the number of tradable crypto assets is due to the popularity of crypto asset transactions. It also follows the market players’ suggestions and Bappebti’s evaluation results. These 154 additional types of crypto assets are authorized based on Regulation on the Bappebti (Perbappebti) No.11 of 2022.
The aforementioned regulation includes requirements, guidelines, addition mechanism, and types of crypto assets listed as tradable. The crypto assets are appraised by the Crypto Asset List Evaluation Team, comprising Bappebti, its associates, and business owners.
With the issuance of Perbappebti No.11 of 2022, the government hereby revoked Perbappebti No.7 of 2022 regarding 229 types of tradable crypto assets.
During a discussion with several journalists grouped in the Association of Indonesian Muslim Journalists (PJMI) here recently, Acting Head of Bappebti, Didid Noordiatmoko, said trading outside the 383 types of crypto assets does not receive any protection from the government. This means the government is not responsible for protecting their transactions, including of traders and buyers, in the event of situations that are detrimental to the parties involved in the illegal trading.
“Trading outside the 383 types of crypto assets is illegal, and the government is not responsible for trading outside of them,” Noordiatmoko remarked.
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“The 383 types of crypto assets that have been legalized have been assessed as relatively safe by the government,” Noordiatmoko noted.
To that end, crypto-asset traders can only trade the crypto assets on the list, and crypto assets that have not been registered with the agency cannot be traded in Indonesia. It is expected that the public can invest in coins or other types of crypto assets that have been specified in the Bappebti Regulations.
The physical trading of crypto assets is one of the commodities that people are very interested in lately.
A crypto currency is a digital or virtual currency. The currency is encrypted or secured using cryptography to secure financial transactions, create additional units, and verify the transfer of assets. In contrast to fiat currency and central bank systems, many crypto currencies are decentralized systems based on block chain technology. Crypto assets represent a seismic shift in the financial markets and, in recent years, have grown in popularity, according to quantifislutions.com.
The technological advancements behind crypto assets have come a long way and have the potential to disrupt the financial system as we know it. Central banks and other financial institutions can play a role in shaping this landscape. However, this global phenomenon is creating confusion on multi levels i.e. how individual crypto assets differ from one another and the role of major participants in the crypto asset ecosystem.
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Data transaction
Bappebti noted that commodity future trading (CFT) transaction data in the first quarter of 2022 showed a total of 4,747,922 lots, an increase of 46.47 percent as compared to 3,241,650 lots during the same period in 2021.
The development of crypto asset transactions is also expeditious. It noted from the transaction value in 2021 of Rp859.4 trillion, an increase of 1.224 percent as compared to Rp64.9 trillion in 2020.
In addition, it can be seen from transactions that had reached Rp130.2 trillion for the first three months (January-March) in 2022. In addition, crypto-assets customers have increased by 740,523 on average every month.
As of March 2022, crypto-assets in Indonesia have 12.8 million subscribers. In the CFT industry, the public can invest some idle funds managed by a future brokerage company officially registered with Bappebti.
This investment is a high risk, high return, and low risk, low return. Hence, it suggested that prospective customers have a deeper understanding of procedures for investing in the CFT industry.
Noordiatmoko explained that the legalization of crypto assets along with transactions, running in this ecosystem, is an effort by the government to protect the Indonesian people from fraudulent practices and other crimes, such as money laundering, drug transactions, and financing of terrorist acts.
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The protection -- which the government has started applying since 2018 -- takes into account the growth in physical trading of crypto assets that shows a positive trend.
“Transactions in crypto assets are increasing. In 2020, the value reached Rp64.9 trillion (about US$4.2 billion), and then it increased to Rp859 trillion (about US$56.3 billion) in 2021. Until August 2022, the value was recorded at Rp250 trillion (about US$16.3 billion),” Noordiatmoko noted.
In addition, he said, the number of investors in this trade sector had increased, reaching at least 16 million people throughout Indonesia, and dominated by those aged between 18 and 35 years old.
“Of the total transaction value, players with transaction values below Rp500,000 (US$32.79 dollars) reached 70 percent, and only 0.9 percent were valued above Rp100 million (US$6,559 dollars),” Noordiatmoko stated, adding that this shows that most of the crypto asset players in this Southeast Asian country are college students.
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He further noted that Indonesia is one of the few countries in the world that applies crypto asset trading regulations.
The potential and innovation of Indonesians as well as the market potential in the country is vast and continues to grow. In the last few years, several crypto assets made by Indonesians have been marketed in several global markets. In general, the digital economy has a great contribution to the country’s next economic growth.
Although crypto asset trading is promising, Noordiatmoko calls on people to remain cautious in investing money in this sector by seeking complete information from competent parties and always educating themselves about this. (INE)
*Mohammad Anthoni was a journalist that had worked for Antara News Agency in 1988-2018 and now a PR Consultant
*The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the ANTARA News Agency
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