[2018-01-15] Bank Indonesia Declares Cryptocurrency Illegal

[Rick Nolan]

Bank Indonesia published a press release on Saturday where it affirms that virtual currencies, including bitcoin, are not recognized as legitimate instrument of payment, therefore not allowed to be used for payment in Indonesia.

The central bank of the Republic of Indonesia added that ownership of virtual currency is highly risky and loaded with speculations, considering there is no authority responsible, no official administrator, no underlying assets to base the virtual currency price, and that the trade value is highly volatile.

Source: https://hype.codes/bank-indonesia-declares-cryptocurrency-illegal

What is your opinion about the BI's announcement?

[jseverson]

I tried to do some more research and it seems the headline is a little sensationalized. Indonesia banned the use of Bitcoin in transactions. You may still own it, and trade it, though they're strongly discouraging the public using the usual bubble FUD.

It doesn't even look like exchanges are affected, because you're technically not using Bitcoins for a transaction if you're going to buy or sell it as goods. According to this article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-13/indonesia-warns-against-owning-selling-trading-cryptocurrency

While the authority reiterates an existing ban on payment-system providers under its watch from processing transactions using digital currencies, PT Bitcoin Indonesia, a virtual-currency exchange that boasts more than 940,000 members, doesn’t fall under its supervision.

So it's really not as bad as it seems. Still a little bad, but not that bad. They probably just don't want people undermining their currency by using Bitcoin instead.

[Betwrong]

Similar statement was issued by the Bank of Indonesia in October 2017. The Central Bank governor Agus Martowardojo said in a statement that Bitcoin was "not a legit means of payment and that if it utilized as such, action would be taken by the authorities."

I don't know how is the new statement differ from the old one, after which Bitcoin has been still used widely in the country, because as of today Bitcoin daily trading volume in Indonesia is over $47,000,000. Hopefully no legal actions will be undertaken by the Indonesian government and the statement will remain as just words in the air.

[CyberKuro]

I tried to do some more research and it seems the headline is a little sensationalized. Indonesia banned the use of Bitcoin in transactions. You may still own it, and trade it, though they're strongly discouraging the public using the usual bubble FUD.

It doesn't even look like exchanges are affected, because you're technically not using Bitcoins for a transaction if you're going to buy or sell it as goods. According to this article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-13/indonesia-warns-against-owning-selling-trading-cryptocurrency

While the authority reiterates an existing ban on payment-system providers under its watch from processing transactions using digital currencies, PT Bitcoin Indonesia, a virtual-currency exchange that boasts more than 940,000 members, doesn’t fall under its supervision.

So it's really not as bad as it seems. Still a little bad, but not that bad. They probably just don't want people undermining their currency by using Bitcoin instead.

It's an old story which repeated, again and again, BI clearly stated that bitcoin isn't a legal currency to do transactions. Hence, people just trade it on exchanges.
Bitcoin can't state as currency in Indonesia at this point due to some commons problems.
People will start to worry if the government will regulate to ban cryptocurrency trading and ban exchanges.

[J. Cooper]

This mainly discourages Indonesian based companies to accept bitcoin or other cryptocurrency payments. I think this can be seen as a form of protectionism where the government doesn't want the people to head over to a lot more secure means of exchanging value.

[onrise]

Quite a lot to hear from across the world that it is getting banned at few places now. This is not a good sign because it can have a huge impact on other countries who are still not yet legalized it and can decide the same fate which counties have already done.

[Queen Esther]

I think the government of Indonesia was just taking a step on how to control cryptocurrencies.I don't think you will use bitcoin as payment for commodities.

[1Referee]

Quite a lot to hear from across the world that it is getting banned at few places now. This is not a good sign because it can have a huge impact on other countries who are still not yet legalized it and can decide the same fate which counties have already done.

It has been like that since the very beginning. The main point here is that whatever group of people are desperately trying to get this market to tank real hard, and that with these twisted articles that want to make people believe something bad is about to happen. In most cases it's nothing more than a warning that it is better to not use crypto currencies, but if you do so, you are fully responsible for what happens then with your money. This news is then twisted in the way that it looks that Bitcoin will get banned and whatnot, so people should just disregard this articles. Without all this drama, this market would be a whole lot less interesting. I seriously don't know anything other than drama since I have been into Bitcoin.

[seoincorporation]

It seems to be a discouraging campaign from Indonesia, but it isn’t forbidden, at least not by now. The point is they’re already using the word “forbidden” when they talk about BTC and another cryptocurrencies, but, technically, it hasn’t be forbidden (yet?).

What has happened, apparently, is that Indonesia has forbidden the use of cryptocurrencies to financial enterprises and payment systems, which was published the last month. It is just another step in the way of forbid, but, can they achieve that? For the moment, it seems just to be an advertisement to the public.

Do you think now the alleged prohibition from last month is actually real?

[Kronos21]

The world now has no boundaries. It is impossible to prohibit the use of bitcoins. China tried to do. Now the Chinese are traded on the Korean and Japanese markets. I am sure that the same reaction of traders will be in Indonesia. Such a ban would trigger a withdrawal of capital from the country. More from the ban no one gets hurt.

[motoprose]

I think the government of Indonesia was just taking a step on how to control cryptocurrencies.I don't think you will use bitcoin as payment for commodities.

They do want to stop it's use as a delay tactic so they can come up with a solution on their current stance on it so they can regulate it.
As with any other countries government will try to do with a foreign currency coming into their economy that is posed as a threat to disrupt their own local currency.

[1BTC EQUALS 1CAR]

I tried to do some more research and it seems the headline is a little sensationalized. Indonesia banned the use of Bitcoin in transactions. You may still own it, and trade it, though they're strongly discouraging the public using the usual bubble FUD.

It doesn't even look like exchanges are affected, because you're technically not using Bitcoins for a transaction if you're going to buy or sell it as goods. According to this article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-13/indonesia-warns-against-owning-selling-trading-cryptocurrency

While the authority reiterates an existing ban on payment-system providers under its watch from processing transactions using digital currencies, PT Bitcoin Indonesia, a virtual-currency exchange that boasts more than 940,000 members, doesn’t fall under its supervision.

So it's really not as bad as it seems. Still a little bad, but not that bad. They probably just don't want people undermining their currency by using Bitcoin instead.

News really like to sensationalized FUD articles nowadays. An idea that crosses my mind that if these people were paid to manipulate the market because they don't sensationalized good news about crypto. And about the Indonesia's new guidelines, it's not that serious.

[stantpro]

The Indonesian government has seen that crypto-currency and its block-chain platform
is a decentralized peer to peer dealings which has not governmental control.This is the
expected paradigm shift which off-course certain governments may not be in tandem with.
So, this reaction goes to show the milestone crypto-currency has achieved vis-a-vis the fiat
world and its currency.

[stompix]

I tried to do some more research and it seems the headline is a little sensationalized. Indonesia banned the use of Bitcoin in transactions. You may still own it, and trade it, though they're strongly discouraging the public using the usual bubble FUD.

So it's really not as bad as it seems. Still a little bad, but not that bad. They probably just don't want people undermining their currency by using Bitcoin instead.

The guy does only this kind of things. Click bait titles.

It's not even that bad.
They said it's just not a recognized instrument for payments. So you just can't pay for stuff...in Indonesia...but you can order something from outside the country.
And furthermore as long as a merchant is a smart person and uses a gateway like bitpay there is nothing against the law even if he is located in the country.

But this is just the same soup, reheated over and over.

It is impossible to prohibit the use of bitcoins. China tried to do. Now the Chinese are traded on the Korean and Japanese markets.

OMG!!!! This is 2017, for god's sake!! Are we still trading people in slave markets?