Indonesia bans firms from facilitating crypto trades
Indonesia’s financial regulator today warned that firms are not allowed to offer and facilitate sales of crypto assets.
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) took to Instagram to sound the alarm over unregulated crypto assets and share new rules that ban firms from using, marketing and facilitating crypto asset trading.
“OJK has strictly prohibited financial service institutions from using, marketing, and/or facilitating crypto asset trading,” the regulator said on Instagram.
“Please beware of allegations of Ponzi scheme scams in crypto investments,” it added, warning readers that the price of crypto is variable and can fluctuate at any time and urging investors to do research before buying digital assets.
Trade in crypto assets is surging in Indonesia, with 2021 transactions totalling 859 trillion rupiah (£44.4bn) according to trade ministry data. In 2021 Indonesia was named the top crypto hotspot in the world in a study by Chainalysis. Online engagement with crypto in Indonesia grew by 1,772 per cent last year as more people than ever before read articles and searched for information about digital assets.
Indonesia allows sales of crypto assets in its commodities exchange where trading is supervised by the trade ministry and the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.
However, digital assets are not regulated by the OJK and earlier this year Indonesia’s religious council declared the use of crypto as unlawful for muslims in most circumstances.
While crypto currencies cannot legally be used to make payments in Indonesia the Trade ministry is nonetheless in the process of setting up a new exchange for digital assets, called the Digital Futures Exchange, which officials say will be launched in the first quarter of 2022.
Read more: Indonesia a ‘crypto hotspot’ as engagement grows 1772 per cent