Indonesia Set to Regulate Cryptocurrencies as Commodities
The Indonesian Ministry of Trade has announced that it is to regulate cryptocurrencies as commodities in the near future.
The statement comes a few months after Bank Indonesia was reluctantly willing to take payments in any form of cryptocurrency stating that any “payment should be made in the form of the Indonesian currency, the rupiah.”
After these past few turbulent months for the central Asian country, this news comes with a sigh of relief from the crypto community of Indonesia. The country’s Future Exchange Supervisory Board (BAPPEBTI) had decided that cryptocurrencies should be considered as commodities as they could be traded.
“The Bappebti head has signed a decree to make cryptocurrency a commodity that could be traded” Dharma Yoga, the Board’s Market Supervision and Development Bureau as quoted to The Jakarta Post. With this new announcement, the trading of cryptocurrencies in Indonesia will be a milestone for the country as a whole. The latest decision from the BAPPEBTI came after a four month study in which the board had decided cryptocurrencies deserved to be viewed as commodities.
According to Yoga, the regulatory frameworks that will be implemented into the Indonesian financial system will allow the Ministry of Trade to fairly govern and monitor the laws within the crypto space. Although the implementation of the regulatory frameworks might not happen overnight, there are steps in place to make sure that the course of action takes place as quickly as possible.
The regulation will require a number of different bodies in order to make sure that transition is as smooth as possible. The list includes: Bank Indonesia, the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the Taxation Directorate General and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK).
Cryptocurrency in Indonesia has been a highly debatable subject, especially with Bank Indonesia’s comments earlier this year. The introduction of these regulatory frameworks, as well as the country’s newfound openness to digital currencies, shows promising signs for the crypto community of Indonesia.
Do you think that this decision by the BAPPEBTI is a step in the right direction for Indonesia’s commercialisation of cryptocurrency?
