The Ministry Of Trade: Beware Of Investment Offers Under The Guise Of Crypto Assets Called E-Dinar Coin Cash

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade, through the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti), reminds the public to always be aware of investment offers under the guise of crypto assets that promise fixed income, profit sharing, and bonuses if they can recruit new members.

One of them is the investment company E-Dinar Coin Cash (EDCCash). The National Police's Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) has named the owner of the EDCCash company as a suspect in fraud, embezzlement and money laundering on April 22, 2021.

"The activities carried out by EDCCash do not include the sale and purchase of crypto assets in accordance with Bappebti regulations. EDCCash recruits new members using a pyramid scheme, namely by producing and trading coins among their own members. The public must be aware of investment offers with a pyramid scheme," he said. Head of Bappebti Sidharta Utama through his statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Friday, April 30.

Sidharta revealed that EDCCash coins are not included in 229 types of crypto assets that are traded on the physical crypto asset market. Previously, the Investment Alert Task Force (SWI) including Bappebti held a meeting on June 18, 2019.

At the meeting, the owner of EDCCash admitted that he only made an application that could be used by the community to buy E-Dinar Coin.

The owner of EDCCash also admitted that he did not offer any benefits. However, on 29 September 2020, SWI agreed to stop EDCCash activities.

Bappebti has issued Regulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency Number 7 of 2020 concerning Determination of List of Crypto Assets that can be Traded on the Physical Market of Crypto Assets. Through this regulation, Bappebti has determined 229 types of crypto assets that can be traded.

"The coins produced by EDCCash are not included in 229 types of crypto assets that are traded on the physical crypto asset market," said Sidharta.

Sidharta said the coins produced by EDCCash do not meet the requirements as crypto assets that can be traded on the physical market for crypto assets, which is based on distributed ledger technology; in the form of utility crypto or crypto-backed assets; and the market capitalization value (market cap) is included in the top 500 crypto asset market capitalization (coin market cap).

In addition, it is included in the largest crypto asset exchange transactions in the world; has economic benefits, such as taxation, growing the informatics industry and the competence of experts in the field of informatics; and an assessment of the risk has been carried out.

According to Sidharta, investment in crypto assets is increasingly in demand by the public, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The prices of crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dogecoin, and others continue to increase.

"Crypto asset transactions must be carried out with knowledge and understanding of the characteristics and risks of crypto assets. The price of Bitcoin-type crypto assets has very high fluctuations. Thus, Bitcoin is considered a high-risk investment," said Sidharta.

Head of Legislation and Enforcement Bureau M Syist added that public interest in crypto assets is being used by irresponsible individuals.

Before deciding to invest in commodity futures trading (CPB), the public needs to check the legality of the futures broker and the reasonableness of the benefits offered.

"We hope that the public will not be tempted by the promise of extraordinary profits. The public needs to study the transaction mechanism, its advantages and disadvantages first," concluded Syist.