Indonesia Targets Mid-2023 for its State-Backed Crypto Exchange

cryptonews.com:

Indonesia aims to launch its much-anticipated state-backed crypto exchange by mid-2023, according to the country's Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti), which currently oversees digital assets.

In a recent interview, Didid Noordiatmoko, head of Bappebti, said that the new exchange will be established by mid-2023, Bloomberg reported. He added that the exchange will be run by a private-sector company rather than the government.

The plan to establish a state-backed crypto exchange comes as the nascent digital asset industry remains rife with scams and fraud. As reported, the crypto industry lost approximately $4 billion worth of digital assets to hacks, fraud, scams, and rug pulls in 2022, with five major exploits totaling $2,361,000,000 alone.

Furthermore, a number of high-profile crypto companies filed for bankruptcy last year, delivering billions in losses to retail customers. FTX and Singapore-based Zipmex are among the more notable crypto exchanges that failed last year. 

The blueprint of the new state-backed exchange resembles the way stock markets, separating trading, clearing, and custody under official oversight. Private-sector crypto platforms will execute trades on the exchange once it is established. 

“The hard part is we can’t find a benchmark for such a crypto bourse,” Noordiatmoko said. “This could be the first.” Other state-backed bodies would handle clearing and custody to protect customer assets and avoid any replay of the alleged fraud like FTX, he added.

In September last year, even before the chaotic collapse of FTX, the Indonesian government introduced revisions to tighten regulations over crypto exchanges in the country, saying that at least two-thirds of the exchanges’ management “must be