Indonesia has reported an increase in cryptocurrency transactions, reaching IDR 30 trillion ($1.92 billion) in February, the country's cryptocurrency regulator said.
The number of registered cryptocurrency investors in the country also reached 19 million last month, representing an addition of 170,000 users as of January, the Commodity Futures Trading Supervision Agency (Bappebti) said.
Covtra characteristics This growth into positive market sentiment is fueled by rising Bitcoin (BTC) prices and the rise in altcoins, non-Bitcoin tokens.
The regulator is still aiming to match or exceed transaction volume from 2021, the last high of $51.28 billion in 2024. Bappebti's Tirta Karma Singaya highlighted that given the downward trend in 2022 and 2023, a rebound was expected in 2020. 2024, with the upcoming Bitcoin halving seen as a major catalyst.
The best way to target cryptocurrency transactions is to remove or reduce taxes on cryptocurrencies. Currently, cryptocurrency transactions are taxed at 0.10% income tax and 0.11% VAT on users, and exchanges are taxed at 0.02% per transaction for Cryptocurrency exchange, depository and clearing house.
“I previously said that this industry (cryptocurrencies) is still in its embryonic stage, so imposing heavy taxes could kill the industry,” Tirta stated at a Reku exchange event earlier.
The transfer of oversight of cryptocurrencies to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in January 2025 could bring about major changes, possibly reclassifying cryptocurrencies as securities and reviewing VAT policies.
