Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade is reportedly aiming to roll out a national crypto exchange

It has been claimed that Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade is planning to launch a national cryptocurrency exchange by June of this year. This would be six months later than the ministry’s prior goal date of December 2022.

At the beginning of Crypto Literacy Month on February 2 in Jakarta, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan announced the new target launch date and noted that the government is currently reviewing which companies meet their criteria to become a part of the exchange. According to local reports, the government is reviewing which companies meet their criteria to become a part of the exchange.

According to Zulkifli, all five of the operational cryptocurrency exchanges that are now registered with the country’s authorities might be included into the cryptocurrency exchange that the ministry plans to launch.

In spite of the fact that these exchanges are already responsible for enabling all transactions inside the country, the exchange run by the ministry would serve as a clearing house and a custodian in the local cryptocurrency market.

A clearing house is simply a third party that acts as a mediator between a buyer and a seller in order to ensure that the transaction is completed without any hiccups. At the same time, it would be responsible for managing the transfer of assets between the two parties as part of its position as a custodian.

The Minister of Trade pleaded with the general public to have patience over the establishment of a national cryptocurrency exchange, stating that “Let us not hurry because if it is not ready, things will become nasty.” Due to the fact that the general public does not have a lot of knowledge [about crypto trading], the government does not want this to have a significant impact on the population.

The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, also known as Bappebti, is currently in charge of supervising the trading of crypto assets in the country alongside commodity contracts. However, once a national exchange has been established, the regulatory authority will be transferred to the Financial Services Authority.

This change in legislation is a direct result of new cryptocurrency rules that were enacted on December 15, 2018. These regulations recognise cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as regulated financial instruments.

Perry Warjiyo, the governor of the Bank of Indonesia, made the announcement on December 5 that a digital currency that the central bank was intending to issue would be the sole digital legal tender in the country.