Indonesia’s cryptocurrency regulator said that the country saw a spike in cryptocurrency transactions in February, with a total of Rupiah 30 trillion ($1.92 billion).
According to the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (Bappebti), there were 19 million registered cryptocurrency investors in the nation last month, up 170,000 from January.
The increase in altcoins, or tokens other than bitcoin, and the recent spike in the price of bitcoin (BTC) are what Bappebti credits with driving optimistic market emotions. The regulatory body still hopes to reach or surpass the $51.28 billion in transaction volume from the previous bull market in 2021.
Tirta Karma Senjaya of Bappebti noted that a 2024 resurgence was expected, with the impending bitcoin halving being considered as a major motivator, considering the declining pattern of 2022 and 2023.
Removing or lowering taxes on cryptocurrency would be the greatest approach to reach the goal of crypto transactions. At the moment, exchanges are taxed at 0.02% per transaction for the cryptocurrency bourse, depository, and clearing house, while users’ income tax and VAT is 0.10% and 0.11%, respectively, on crypto transactions.
At a Reku exchange event earlier, Tirta said, “I’ve previously said that this industry (crypto) is still in its embryonic stage, so imposing heavy taxes might kill the industry.”
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) will take over management of cryptocurrencies in January 2025, and this could result in major changes, such as reclassifying cryptocurrencies as securities and changing VAT laws.