Indonesia’s central bank is taking measures for enforcing crypto ban. It is mobilizing the task force to ensure that local financial institutions adhere to the ban imposed by the bank.

Indonesian Bank stopped financial institutions from using crypto as a payment method back in 2017. Settlement of transactions using crypto was prohibited. However, two years later Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency legitimized crypto’s use as a speculative commodity through regulations issued in February 2019. As a result, the trade of crypto derivatives started on local stock exchanges.

Also Read: El Salavador Adopts Bitcoin

The guidelines of the agency gave a legal framework for, “the trading of crypto assets as commodities could become the subject of futures contracts and other derivative contracts traded in the stock market.”

Enforcing Crypto Ban

Now the central bank is again starting to curb financial institutions’ activities with regards to cryptocurrencies.

The governor of Indonesia’s central bank, Perry Warjiyo, is deploying officials on the job of enforcing the crypto ban on financial institutions. This will stop banks and other financial services providers from taking cryptocurrencies as payment.

Just a few weeks ago, Bank Indonesia announced that it is working on a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Later on, the currency’s use was put out on May 25th. The bank’s also announced the research according to which the digital payments in the country were increased by 60.3% year-over-year by April 2021. Moreover, the value of a total settlement in digital cash rose 46% to reach 217.4 billion.

The Bank, in an effort to further explain the step, published details regarding CBDC via Instagram on May 3oth. It stated that a state-sponsored digital currency is in line with the bank’s monetary objectives. In addition, it aligns with the policy of initiating digitization.

The preparations regarding digital currency adoption are ongoing around the globe. As per the Bank for International Settlements, central banks that represent 20% of the world’s population will likely launch CBDCs in the next three years.