Based on the release issued by the Ministry of Commerce of the Republic of Indonesia through the
State News, Indonesia positioned cryptocurrency as a commodity. This states that Indonesia allows cryptocurrency to circulate in the community. The Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia authorizes BAPPEBTI (Institute for Commodity Trading Supervision) similar to the SEC, to immediately issue rules relating to cryptocurrency trading. (if it has been published immediately updated).
Important note is that Indonesia refuses to use cryptocurrency as a payment transaction tool, based on
law Number 7 of 2011 concerning Currency and Bank Indonesia rules Number
17/3/PBI/2015 concerning the Obligation to Use Rupiah in the Territory of the Republic of Indonesia.
While the rules for crowdfunding, Indonesia are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) through
POJK.04/2018 regarding Equity Crowdfunding. Where all institutions that will conduct crowdfunding must have OJK permission and at a minimum the company must be a limited liability company (Perseroan Terbatas) or cooperative. This rule also limits the maximum value of the share offer of Rp. 10 billion (USD800 million).
Note:
If there is a renewal, I will update it immediately.But what exactly does this mean?
I guess they have clarified their position on bitcoin, i.e. it's not illegal to use or hold, but classifying as a commodity doesn't really help much in terms of determining what is legal to do with bitcoin, what regulation surrounds the use of bitcoin within Indonesia, etc. It's all very vague.
In fact, classifying something as a commodity would be no different to classifying it as a currency, if all the regulations are the same between the two. Perhaps there will be tax implications, but that is unknown from this report.
Drawbacks:
1. Bitcoins can't be used for purchasing goods and services.
Just because bitcoin isn't legal tender doesn't mean it can't be used to purchase goods and services. Who's to stop people from bartering fish for cows, for example, even though neither of these are legal tender and can be considered to be commodities? IMO, the same applies to bitcoin in this context.