Deputy Speaker Of The House Of Representatives Urges OJK To Seriously Supervise Crypto And Fintech

JAKARTA - Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar encouraged the new leadership of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to be more serious in overseeing crypto transactions, aka cryptocurrency and financial technology services (fintech).

"I hope OJK leaders are more observant and serious in overseeing fraudulent investment practices. Many have been harmed, including the state," Muhaimin said in a written statement quoted by Antara, Tuesday, April 12.

Muhaimin asked OJK to move quickly to encourage digital transformation of the financial sector in Indonesia. Not only in the banking sector, financial digitization has also targeted various sectors, such as fintech to crypto, which is growing rapidly in Indonesia.

He gave an illustration that the Ministry of Trade recorded that the transaction value of crypto assets reached Rp. 64.9 trillion in 2020, increasing to Rp. 859.4 trillion in 2021.

"In the period from January to February 2022 alone, the transaction value has reached Rp. 83.3 trillion," said Muhaimin.

In 2021, he said, the ability of the crypto asset market to raise funds is much greater than the capacity of the conventional capital market, which is still in the range of Rp. 363.3 trillion.

"So it is very important for OJK to coordinate with banks and the capital market to be involved in regulating and supervising trading in crypto and fintech assets. We know the transactions are enormous," said Muhaimin.

The general chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) stated that OJK's involvement with qualified human resources is expected to create a healthy crypto asset trading ecosystem.

"I hope that OJK will make strict and clear rules for business actors and consumers of online transactions because it is not enough to just let it flow, while there are a lot of traders, even though it is high risk," he said.