Indonesia aims to launch a crypto stock exchange by the end of the year in a bid to protect residents from scams and fraud. The government initially intended to launch the platform in 2021 but couldn’t meet that deadline due to complexities in the process.

Indonesia to Launch Government-Backed Crypto Stock

The Indonesian government plans to launch its crypto stock market by the end of 2022, according to the country’s deputy trade minister Jerry Sambuaga. The platform was initially expected to go live in 2021, but the minister said they had to postpone the launch due to the complexities of the process.

“We will make sure that every requirement, procedure, and necessary step have been taken,” Sambuaga said. He noted that there is not any significant problem causing the delay, rather they just want to be more conservative. He added:

“This is proof that we are being careful. We don’t want to be hasty as it may cause us to miss something. Creating a bourse needs many preparations. We need to see which entities should be included in the bourse. Secondly, we need to validate the said entities. Thirdly, there is minimum capital and other requirements related to custodian depository, technical things.”

Back in 2018, Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade formally authorized crypto asset trading and recognized cryptocurrency as a commodity. Later in 2019, the Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Authority, or Bappebti, provided a thorough regulatory framework for the crypto-assets future. In short, buying and selling crypto assets are authorized in Indonesia, but only for investment reasons.

The country’s central bank has recently highlighted that cryptocurrencies are not a valid method of payment. Likewise, banks are forbidden to facilitate the use of cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

Indonesia Stops Issuing Registration Certificates for Crypto Exchanges

Last month, Bappebti, which regulates crypto trading in the country, stopped issuing registration certificates for prospective crypto asset traders. The move was aimed to realize “transparent, efficient, and effective trading activities of crypto assets with fair competition to protect the interests of all parties in the crypto trading market.”

As of now, there are a total of 25 licensed crypto trading platforms operating in the country. One of the exchanges is troubled Zipmex, which recently suspended withdrawals in the country due to “financial problems of business partners.”

Data by Bappebti shows that interest in crypto is rising rapidly in Indonesia. According to the financial watchdog, crypto asset transactions reached 859.4 trillion rupiahs (worth around $57.7 billion) in 2021, up 1,224% from 64.9 trillion in 2020.

Furthermore, in the first half of the year, crypto transactions in Indonesia totaled 212 trillion rupiahs (around $14 billion), which is still impressive given the recent market crash and overall sour market conditions. Up to June 2022, crypto consumers in the country reached 15.1 million users.

Meanwhile, experts believe that crypto adoption in Indonesia will receive another boost with the upcoming crypto stock exchange. “The industry will grow, we’ll start seeing more local projects,” Pang Xue Kai, CEO of major Indonesian crypto platform Tokocrypto said.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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