Indonesia’s crypto transactions surged to 30 trillion Indonesian Rupiah ($1.92 billion) in February, according to the country’s crypto regulator.
The number of registered crypto investors also reached 19 million last month, with an increase of 170,000 users from January, reported the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti).
Bappebti attributes this growth to positive market sentiments driven by the rise in bitcoin’s (BTC) price and the rally in altcoins, which are tokens other than bitcoin.
The regulator aims to match or surpass the transaction volume from the last bull run in 2021, which totaled $51.28 billion, by 2024. Tirta Karma Senjaya from Bappebti highlighted that, given the downward trend in 2022 and 2023, a rebound in 2024 was expected, with the upcoming bitcoin halving seen as a key catalyst.
To achieve the crypto transaction target, Bappebti suggests removing or reducing taxes on crypto. Currently, crypto transactions incur a 0.10% Income Tax and a 0.11% VAT for users, while exchanges face a 0.02% tax per transaction for the crypto bourse, depository, and clearing house.
“I’ve previously said that this industry (crypto) is still in its embryonic stage, so imposing heavy taxes might kill the industry,” Tirta stated at a Reku exchange event.
