BI Deputy Governor Candidate Juda Agung Proposes Crypto To Enter The P2SK Bill: It's In CoFTRA But Has Implications For The Financial System

JAKARTA - The candidate for Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Juda Agung highlighted the role of the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (CoFTRA) which was deemed unsuitable in dealing with cryptocurrencies.

"What's interesting is that the crypto business is now under CoFTRA. That may need to be reviewed in the P2SK Bill (Draft for the Development and Strengthening of the Financial Sector) and we need to sit it down properly where it should be," he said responding to a question from one of the council members while undergoing a fit and proper test with Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives at the Parliament Complex. Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, November 30.

According to Juda, the handling of cryptocurrencies is not appropriate if it is in the corridor of CoFTRA, which is actually an extension of the Ministry of Trade. The reason is, crypto has a significant influence on the national financial system.

"Therefore, crypto means a commodity (if it is under CoFTRA), even though the implications are quite significant for the financial system," he said.

In order to ensure that the financial sector remains in a well-maintained condition, Bank Indonesia, called Juda, has issued a strategic policy regarding the prohibition of national financial services industry players, particularly banking, to provide facilities to parties wishing to transact cryptocurrencies.

"Bank Indonesia's position is actually quite clear that it prohibits banks and those who enter our payment system to facilitate this transaction," he said.

Juda added that Indonesia was one of the leading countries that was quite loud in voicing digital currency transactions as illegal.

"We consider that Indonesia compared to several other countries is quite strong in the implementation of this policy, namely prohibiting members or the industry in the payment system to facilitate crypto transactions," he said.

Furthermore, Bank Indonesia is also said to continue to finalize the scheme for establishing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or digital rupiah in response to technological developments in the financial industry. Juda is optimistic that this step can accommodate public interest in digital currency transactions, which is supported by the credibility of the central bank.

“CBDC in our opinion can also be an attempt to 'combat' crypto. This means, if cryptocurrencies can make digital payments, then with this CBDC, of course, people will have more confidence in digital rupiah issued by Bank Indonesia," he said.

"So in our opinion, CBDC is one of the steps to overcome the use of cryptocurrencies in economic transactions," concluded Juda.