Indonesia to Launch National Crypto Exchange

An interesting pattern seems to be developing within the Asian blockchain market. After years of battling stringent regulations and sometimes a downright hostile attitude from the government, steps are being taken to nationalise blockchain-related services. Case in point, China just announced that it will be launching a national and regulated NFT marketplace.

Now, Indonesia has made a similar announcement, stating that it will be launching a national crypto exchange in 2023. This was first reported by Bloomberg which states that regulatory powers over cryptocurrency will also be turned over from its Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Authority (Bappebti) to the country’s Financial Services Authority. 

Details About the Exchange 

For crypto consumers, few things have a bigger impact on their experience like the exchange they choose to use. An efficient exchange will mean a fast and even profitable experience. However, as we have seen with several platform collapses in the last few months alone, a mismanaged or unreliable crypto exchange can lead to losses in the billions of dollars.

For Indonesian crypto users, having a government-backed exchange might just be a way to safely interact with these assets. And while this exchange is due to go live this year, it has not all been smooth sailing. It was supposed to have been launched back in 2021 but was pushed back due to some complications. 

But that is not the say that Indonesia has been anti-crypto. On the contrary, the country has been quite accepting of the asset class, with its Ministry of Trade recognizing them as commodities in 2018. Bappebti also began offering licenses to digital asset dealers and created a comprehensive framework for the industry.

In the last year, however, Bappebti has stopped issuing these certificates in a bid to “realise transparent, efficient, and effective trading operations of crypto assets” and now, regulation of cryptos will be out of its jurisdiction entirely. 

The reason given for this, according to a government official, is that cryptocurrencies are treated as financial instruments and as such, need to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

“In fact crypto assets have become investment and financial instruments, so they need to be regulated on an equal basis with other financial and investment instruments,” the official said. 

More announcements are expected to be made as the launch date for the exchange approaches. 

Do We Need National Blockchain Platforms?

It is quite interesting to see how the treatment of digital assets by governments has shifted over the years. In many countries, they have gone from not being recognised by governments at all to being regulated to now being openly embraced, with countries like El Salvador even recognizing crypto as a legal tender. 

But even with all these, is there a need for national crypto exchanges and NFT marketplaces? In many ways, they could drive adoption in that crypto sceptics might be more inclined to use digital assets if they are listed on a government-backed platform. And as we’ve seen with Indonesia, they could be a catalyst for more thorough regulation.