Deputy Minister Of Trade Jerry Sambuaga: We Realize Crypto Is The Future

The Vice Minister of Trade emphasized that the government must provide protection to investors and facilitate trade. (Cryptonewz)

JAKARTA – Deputy Minister of Trade (Wamendag) Jerry Sambuaga encouraged the government to take appropriate steps in managing crypto trading in Indonesia. Especially regarding legal certainty in providing protection to cryptocurrency investors.

Data reports from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (CoFTRA) reveal that the number of crypto investors in the country has reached around 9.5 million investors in October 2021. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency investment transactions have skyrocketed five times to reach Rp478.5 trillion as of July 2021. In addition, the transaction value in the Indonesian crypto market can average Rp1.7 trillion per day.

With the circulation of funds above, the government naturally provides legal certainty for crypto investors. Jerry Sambuaga assessed that it was the government's duty to provide certainty and security.

“The keywords are certainty and security. It's all the government's job. This means that any business sector must be facilitated by the government so that every perpetrator gets justice and protection in transactions," said Jerry on Sunday, January 9, 2022.

For this reason, according to the Vice Minister of Trade, the Crypto Exchange must be established immediately and the government must establish a market system and good supervision of the crypto market.

Currently, the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (CoFTRA) has recorded a number of crypto traders who have carried out their business activities and there are around 11. CoFTRA registered as potential traders.

In the future, Jerry continued, it is hoped that the exchange will create a trading system that can protect and regulate crypto traders. Thus, Crypto trading can be more structured and systematized, making it easier for recording, monitoring, and harmonizing efforts with other sectors.

“One of them is related to tax matters. If it's already registered, it's easy to calculate and collect taxes. This will also provide a sizeable income for the country so that it will support development in other sectors," he said.

In addition to the tax sector, the state's advantage with the opening of the Crypto Exchange is in terms of ensuring state security, whether related to money laundering, terrorism financing, or related to Indonesia's monetary and fiscal security.

Meanwhile, in terms of consumer protection, which is also part of the main task of the Ministry of Trade, Jerry hopes that cases of violations that harm consumers, such as those that have occurred abroad, can be prevented by the existence of an exchange.

According to the Vice Minister of Trade, the opening of the stock exchange will be a breakthrough that benefits all parties. With this concept, Indonesia will also become the first country in the world to provide facilitation for the development of Crypto through an exchange. This, he added, shows that Indonesia is opening up to the phenomenon of the financial industry and new commodities but is still being careful in managing it.

Jerry believes that crypto is a part of the future and is inevitable. This is driven by rapid technological advances that can present things that have never existed before. Therefore, the government must adapt to the new thing and not reject it.

“We recognize that crypto is the future and a breakthrough that we cannot escape. Technological advances have created many new things and we should not reject them, but accommodate them while still considering security for the country and society," he said as quoted by Antara News.