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On January 25, the Indonesian Financial Conduct Authority banned financial service providers from trading cryptocurrencies.
This decision is due to two reasons. Firstly, digital assets are often used by fraudsters and organizers of financial pyramids. Secondly, investments in virtual currencies carry a lot of risk due to the high level of volatility in the exchange rate of coins.
Financial institutions cannot only buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but also promote services based on digital assets. Despite the negative attitude towards tokens and meme coins, the Indonesian authorities plan to open a cryptocurrency futures exchange called Digital Futures Exchange. The launch of the platform is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, virtual currencies are hugely popular in Indonesia. Last year, the volume of cryptocurrency trading grew more than 14 times compared to 2020 and reached $80.5 billion.
The trend towards restricting access to digital assets is also observed in other countries of Southeast Asia. For example, in January, the Monetary Authority of Singapore introduced a ban on advertising of crypto companies in public places, social networks and the media. Firms have the right to promote their services only on their own websites and mobile applications.
Both regulators have labeled cryptocurrencies as high-risk and speculative assets, making them unsuitable for use by the general public.
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