2021 National Crypto Asset Transaction Reaches IDR 859.45 Trillion, Chairman Of The MPR RI: Indonesia Will Become Center Of World's Digital Economy

Chairman of the MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo attended the launch of the Tambang Digital Indonesia application in Jakarta, Sunday. (Photo: ANTARA/HO-MPR RI)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo assesses that Indonesia has the potential to become the center of the digital economy in the world, because domestic crypto trade continues to grow and has been recorded as the largest in Southeast Asia.

"The crypto asset market and its derivatives in commodity futures trading have great investment potential. Currently, the Indonesian crypto market has been recorded as the largest in Southeast Asia and at the global level is in position 30," said Bambang Soesatyo in a statement in Jakarta, Sunday.

This was said by Bamsoet after attending the launch of the Indonesian Digital Mine application in Jakarta, Sunday, March 13.

He explained, based on data from the Ministry of Trade as of December 2021, the number of crypto asset investors in Indonesia has reached 11 million people.

According to him, this figure is much higher than the number of investors in the capital market based on Single Investor Identification (SID), which amounts to 7.48 million investors.

"Throughout 2021, the accumulated value of crypto asset transactions will also continue to grow to reach IDR 859.45 trillion with an average transaction value of IDR 2.3 trillion per day," he said.

Bamsoet said, the ability of the crypto asset market to raise funds is clearly much greater than the fundraising in the capital market, which is still around IDR 363.3 trillion.

He assessed, the number of crypto investors will continue to grow because the ecosystem continues to develop, for example domestically, crypto is classified as a commodity that can be traded on futures exchanges.

"The legal basis includes Law No. 10/2011 concerning Amendments to Law No. 32 of 1997 concerning Commodity Futures Trading and Regulation of the Minister of Trade No. 99 of 2018 concerning General Policies for the Implementation of Crypto Asset Futures Trading," he said.

According to him, the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (CoFTRA) has also issued Head of CoFTRA Regulation No. 3 of 2019, Regulation No. 5 of 2019, Regulation No. 9 of 2019, and Regulation No. 2 of 2020.

He assessed, due to the high public interest in the domestic crypto asset market, the government needs to make the massive growth of the domestic crypto market as a momentum to accelerate the transformation of the digital economy.

"All of this should start by building a new trading ecosystem, including education, better trade mechanisms, strengthening consumer and investor protection, establishing capable and trusted supporting professions, and expanding the potential for tax revenue," he said.

He asked the Ministry of Trade (CoFTRA), OJK, Ministry of Finance, Bank Indonesia, Polri and the Attorney General's Office as regulators and law enforcement officers to immediately prepare legislation related to the digital economy.

According to him, it is necessary to anticipate "free riders" in the market who take advantage of the legal vacuum to deceive the public, by manipulating "money game" or ponzi schemes that are made similar to cryptocurrencies, trading robots or the like.

In addition, Bambang Soesatyo also appreciated the presence of Tambang Digital Indonesia as a company owned by the nation's children engaged in direct sales and there are crypto mining facilities for its members.