The Indonesian cryptocurrency industry and market experienced notable growth in 2021, as the number of global crypto holders has been estimated to have increased by 3.9% to more than 300 million crypto users worldwide, with more than 18,000 businesses already accepting cryptocurrencies as payment.
It has been reported that India is currently in the lead with 100 million users, followed by the United States with 27 million users and Russia with 17 million users. According to data from Triple A, Indonesia has the seventh-largest crypto user base, below Brazil and Pakistan.
However, there are 7.2 million Indonesians who own cryptocurrencies, while according to the Indonesian Blockchain Association, as of July 2021, the number of crypto owners in Indonesia is 7.4 million people, an increase of 85% from 2020.
The report said that this number is significantly more than the number of stock investors in Indonesia with only 2.7 million investors, based on data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The total population of Indonesia in June was 272 million people, which means that only 2.7% of the Indonesian population owns crypto.
This shows that there is still room for the crypto industry to grow, develop and reach more corners of Indonesian society. The rapid growth of crypto investors in Indonesia is partly the result of Indonesian regulators that have welcomed crypto and blockchain developments with open arms. Throughout 2021, there have been many discussions with officials, new crypto regulations, and developments in the sector.
Dhila Rizqia, the head of growth at local industry media firm Coinvestasi, said that the growing number of Indonesian crypto investors is also reflected in the rise of the crypto media.
He added:
“In 2021, Coinvestasi has gained a lot of new audiences across our channels, including Instagram and YouTube which have grown over 1,787% and 1,388%, respectively.”
Likewise, early this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI) issued a whitelist of legal crypto assets for trading in Indonesia. This whitelist consists of 229 crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), Cardano (ADA), and the popular memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE), that are allowed for trading on registered exchanges.
With the growth of crypto users and investors in Indonesia, the government, through BAPPEBTI and the Director-General of Taxes, is also considering imposing taxes on crypto trading. For now, crypto taxation is still under discussion with several market players such as exchanges and industry associations.
Thus, BAPPEBTI stated that the crypto tax in Indonesia could be around 0.05%, lower than the 0.1% tax imposed on stock trades.
Source: Cointelegraph
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