Digital Rupiah Is Being Made, This Is What Entrepreneurs Say

Digital Rupiah is being made by BI (Antara)

The plan to issue rupiah currency from Bank Indonesia (BI) is claimed to make transactions more flexible and easier. A number of businessmen have responded positively to the plan. However, the business community emphasized several points that must be considered.

"This concept is to facilitate payments, transactions, and so on. Makes it easy for the exchange rate, you don't need to spend less time. From that point of view it's good", said Johnny Darmawan as Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Industry, as quoted by CNBC.

The purpose of issuing digital rupiah currency is to encourage economic digitization. In addition, the digital rupiah is also expected to be able to stem the phenomenal cryptocurrency. Unlike bitcoin, which is still not legally used as a transaction tool, the digital the rupiah is a legal payment instrument that can replace physical money.

Before Indonesia, China had already planned to make a digital Yuan. The goal is the same, to stem the flow of cryptocurrencies. Currently, China is testing its digital currency by distributing the digital Yuan to citizens. Digital money is used to purchase products through e-commerce and a number of stores in the country.

Both digital rupiah and digital yuan are controlled by the central bank, while bitcoin is decentralized. This means that bitcoin cannot be controlled by any bank, it has a very extreme level of fluctuation. A person can make a fortune in one day, he can also fall into poverty in a short time.

Johnny revealed that the efforts being made by BI in issuing digital rupiah currency are considered to have a high level of complexity. Bank Indonesia must carefully consider how the use and risks could harm the public.

"The fear is how to control it so that there is no manipulation. Transfers can still be lied to, paki whose name is e-banking can be cheated, and so on", said Johnny.

Johnny revealed another thing that must be considered, namely the mechanism of transactions conducted with other countries. A number of countries have made the same plan, but the legal basis must also be considered in order to comply with the regulations of other countries.

"You have to talk to other countries, what are the guarantees, and all kinds. But that's good in my opinion. Bank Indonesia makes it easy for transactions. Because usually, the problem is currency transactions too. So you export and import and the like, for example, if you want to pay to the US, you get hit twice, how to sell, how to buy", said Johnny.