Indonesia to get crypto regulatory overhaul

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) today announced some significant changes to its cryptocurrency regulation are coming.

As of January 2025, cryptocurrencies will fall under a new regulator within the country – the OJK, as opposed to commodities and futures trading regulator, Bappebti.

This likely means that cryptos, currently classified as commodities under Indonesian law, will likely be reclassified as ‘financial instruments’ – a significant step for the asset class.

According to OJK, under its new oversight, all cryptocurrency firms will be subjected to new rules. Chief among these, for now, is today’s announcement that firms wishing to obtain a license to legally operate within Indonesia must be evaluated and approved by the OJK in a ‘regulatory sandbox’ – a controlled testing environment which rigorously vets all products and processes before allowing the firm to operate in the public sector.

According to detikFinance, the news was announced at a media briefing in Indonesia on Tuesday.

There, OJK’s chief executive of crypto assets, Hasan Fawzi, said that the changes to crypto regulation would encourage “consumer protection and education” and “preventing fraudulent investments”.