Yesterday, Tech in Asia ran a story about how to purchase and use Bitcoin in Asia. At the beginning of last year, the Bank of Indonesia publicly stated that bitcoin is not a legal form of payment within the archipelago. However, as it’s extremely difficult to regulate the sale and use of digital currencies like bitcoin, transactions using the currency in Indonesia remain high. Oscar Darmawan, CEO of Bitcoin Indonesia, claims that each day there are between US$30,000 to US$50,000 worth of bitcoin transactions in the country.
While there are many ways to have a conversation about Bitcoin’s benefits and drawbacks in Indonesia, in terms of tech startup participation, Bitcoin seems to be heating up. It has also proven to be a convenient way to pay and get paid for digital services. As a result, some companies are focusing explicitly on the cryptocurrency market in the archipelago. Tech in Asia has decided it’s time to round up these guys, so, in no particular order, here are five of the most well-known Bitcoin startups in Indonesia.
ArtaBit
Artabit screen
This site can be regarded as one of the pioneers for Bitcoin in Indonesia, as the company has been around for more than two years already. Essentially, ArtaBit is a digital payment system that uses Bitcoin. So if your startup is an ecommerce website, you can integrate ArtaBit services to support bitcoin payments. In addition, the site also lets you purchase bitcoins with Indonesian rupiah.
ArtaBit founder Ayoub Naciri expects Bitcoin will take off in emerging markets like Indonesia as more than 80 percent of the population still lacks a bank account.
Bitcoin.co.id
Bitcoin.co.id (aka Bitcoin Indonesia) launched around the same time as ArtaBit. However, unlike its competitor which acts as a payment system, Bitcoin.co.id is a trading center only. On the site’s homepage, you can see the latest bitcoin exchange rates, including the lowest and highest levels of the week, and where it currently sits. Each update comes in three-hour intervals. The site itself does not set the exchange rate, but instead just presents the exchange rates offered by sellers.
Bitcoin.co.id is arguably one of the more trusted exchanges in Indonesia, as the site claims all deposits and withdrawls are processed within 12 hours, and that it uses military-grade cryptography to protect users against fraud.
BitDoku
bitdoku landing
Established in mid-2014, BitDoku is one of the newer players on Indonesia’s cryptocurrency scene. However, the startup’s Indonesian founder Tiyo Triyanto claims BitDoku is already better than the local competitors because it delivers bitcoin to the buyer in around three minutes flat. Similar to Bitcoin.co.id, BitDoku acts as a simple intermediary between bitcoin buyers and sellers, and each transaction on BitDoku earns the firm 0.2 percent of the amount sold.
With BitDoku, users send an SMS or WhatsApp message to Triyanto and his team with the amount they want to purchase, their Bitcoin wallet address, and personal email address. Minutes after users make their payments, they are notified of the bitcoin’s arrival. At Startup Asia Jakarta 2014, BitDoku participated in bootstrap alley and Triyanto claims the company facilitated US$22,000 worth of bitcoin within 24 hours due to word-of-mouth from SUA attendees.
BestBit
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This startup’s Bitcoin service is still in the development stage. Similar to Bitcoin.co.id and BitDoku, Bestbit also sells bitcoin for Indonesian rupiah. However, before users can purchase bitcoins, they are required to make a real-money deposit in advance. Currently, BestBit charges nothing for users to buy and sell bitcoins to each other. Instead, it plans to take a one percent fee each time users withdraw cash from their Bestbit account.
Quoine
Quoine.co.id screen
Last month, the Pan-Asian bitcoin exchange Quoine announced a US$2 million angel funding round to scale up its operation not long after launching in June and opening an Indonesian site. Trading is currently available in Japanese yen, Singapore dollars, US dollars, European euros, Indonesian rupiah, and Australian dollars, while bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency offered.