The Indonesian market is experiencing a rise in the number of bitcoin transactions even though the digital currency has no legal status in the country, according to a report from the Jakarta Post.
In 2014, Bank Indonesia, the Indonesian central bank, released a statement declaring that bitcoin was not legally recognized as money or legal tender.
Yet, despite this, that doesn’t seem to have put people off from using the digital currency as a form of payment.
The report from the Jakarta Post states that the number of bitcoin users in Indonesia has risen from 80,000 up to 250,000, with a daily transaction value amounting to Rp 20 billion (US$1.48 million).
In 2010, over $5 billion was sent back home from Indonesian migrant workers across the world. While a report from 2015, found that bitcoin remittance services could save Indonesia migrant workers $374 million.
Remittance via bitcoin could significantly benefits Indonesians.
However, in a bid to boost bitcoin payments in the country, it was announced last May that a prominent e-commerce and digital payment platform in Indonesia, KinerjaPay Corp., had enabled bitcoin payments for transactions on its platform for the first time.
Through this feature, users can pay for utility bills, make money transfers and buy products sold on the platform with bitcoin.
Boost for Bitcoin in Indonesia
According to Suasti Atmastuti Astaman, Bitcoin Indonesia business development manager, the positive trend of bitocin’s adoption in Indonesia was down to global trust of the currency and Russia’s recent legalization of it. He also stated that other countries relaxed stance on the currency was enabling greater trust in it.
He said:
Bitcoin’s value completely depends on supply and demand in the market…That’s why bitcoin’s value has been rapidly surging.
In an attempt to get the country to support the currency, an Indonesian journalist wrote an article in May last year calling for the country to follow Japan’s lead and support bitcoin in light of the progress other countries are making.
Bitcoin Not Legal…Yet
However, while progress is being made with the digital currency in Indonesia there is still a long way to go before it will be legalized.
And yet, with the price of one bitcoin reaching $1,030, according to Coin Market Cap, at the time of publishing, Indonesia seems to be playing it safe by remaining quiet on its stance with the currency.
With so many benefits associated with bitcoin it can surely only be a matter of time before the currency is regulated and legal in Indonesia.
Images from Shutterstock.
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