Indonesia to have national crypto exchange before June

The Trade Ministry of Indonesia had initially planned to set up a national cryptocurrency exchange by the end of 2022, but the ministry is now aiming to have the exchange set up before June 2023, according to a local news report.

The bourse is being set up as part of the regulatory reforms adopted by the Indonesian House of Representatives in December.

The Indonesian government is currently reviewing crypto exchanges that will be part of the national bourse. There are five active exchanges in the race out of the 25 exchanges that are registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, as per the report.

Trade minister Zulkifli Hasan said that all five exchanges might be part of the ministry’s crypto exchange. Hasan added:

“Let us not rush because if it is not ready, things will get messy. The government does not want this to massively take a toll on the public because people do not know much [about crypto trading].”

Establishing the crypto exchange was delayed since the Indonesian government had placed a moratorium on the issuance of new crypto exchange licenses.

The moratorium, which was recently lifted, had attracted criticism from people who believed that the government was unnecessarily “making things difficult,” Hasan said. But the moratorium was needed to “clear the regulations,” he added.