Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Darmin Nasution, said that electronic money in the form of Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) cannot be a legitimate payment instrument in Indonesia. The reason, which only legalizes its existence is that futures exchanges are only limited to futures trading. "Yes, as long as it is not (as a means of payment), just let it be. But for payment later," Darmin said in his office, Jakarta, Friday (2/15/2019). Darmin said that the government had never discussed or taken into account electronic money, Bitcoin CS as an official payment instrument. However, the focus and interest in this matter is the Futures Exchange, not the government as the owner of regulations through the relevant agencies. "We never mempotenskan for it (Bitcoin as a means of payment). That Exchange Futures are interested, not the government as a whole," he said. He added, related to Bitcoin which is predicted to be a payment transaction tool so far has never been regulated by Bank Indonesia (BI) Therefore, Bitcoin still cannot and is not an official payment instrument in the country. "Bank Indonesia did not regulate the matter, but the matter of cryptocurrency was carried out by the stock exchange. It was not as a means of payment, as goods were traded," he added. "If you want to buy, just buy, nothing is inside (the value)," Darmin added. Bitcoin is an electronic money made in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Now its existence gets attention and some countries have made it as a means of payment or official transactions.
Indonesia has recognized Bitcoin as an asset to be legally tradable within the Indonesian market. Authorities have stated that this legal body is intended to protect the public who want to invest in cryptocurrencies and not be scammed by fraudulent operators.
