It seems that Indonesia is in no mood of cryptocurrencies operating within its boundaries. The Central Bank of Indonesia has announced that it has completely banned Bitcoin as a mode of payment as it doesn’t consider it to be legal.
Three years in February 2014, a similar statement was issued by the central bank saying that:
“Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are neither currency nor legal payment tools in Indonesia. People are advised to be careful about Bitcoin and other virtual currencies”.
This decision of banning Bitcoin payments coming from the central bank has caused exchanges like Bitbayer and Toko Bitcoin to shutdown its operations. Bitbayer has officially announced that it will shutdown all its operations starting from the 1st of November and existing users are requested to withdraw all its funds by the closing of this month. Took Bitcoin too is said to have followed the same line of action like Bitbayer.
Even though there is no official instruction from the central bank to this exchanges to shutdown their operation it is understood from the statement released by governor – Agus Martowardojo that use of Bitcoin as a payment method will be considered and action would be taken against the ones not following the order.
Bitcoin Indonesia CEO Oscar Darmawan has said that exchanges and user need not be concerned.
“Apparently, they (exchanges) are actually expanding their exchange business and wants to make sure that everything is in line with what the regulators would want, which is why they made the pre-emptive choice to shut down the websites.”
Such a decision has created a wave of possums within all the fintech startups and business operating in the country and could possibly follow they withdrawing their operations as well. Currently, nothing can be said about the future of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Indonesia. However, if cryptocurrencies turns out to be mainstream mode of payment in future, authorities might reconsider their decision of decision and make them functional with proper regulatory guidelines and checks.
Also Read: Singapore aiming for it’s own Cryptocurrency
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