Bank Indonesia will prohibit payment transactions using bitcoin by 2018. This bitcoin prohibition will be regulated in a Bank Indonesia or PBI regulation that is planned to be issued in the near future.
Head of BI Transformation Program Center Onny Widjanarko said, in the PBI, electronic money that will be out in the near future will be arranged, one of them about bitcoin.
"Currently there is no clear rule if people do bitcoin transactions," said Onny in Jakarta, Tuesday (5/12/2017).
Bitcoin has not been specifically regulated by BI. To that end, BI is still conducting an in-depth review of bitcoin, whether it will be regulated in electronic money PBI or separate, for example later entered in the PBI cryptocurrency.
What is clear, BI appealed that merchants do not accept bitcoin as an official payment instrument in Indonesia. If people experience bitcoin-related losses, BI regulators will not be responsible for this.
BI is concerned and is still concerned about the risks of using bitcoin by the community. This is because BI is sniffing the potential for bitcoin fraud to be used for unlawful acts, such as terrorism, money laundering, prostitution, and drug trafficking.
There are some investors who use bitcoin as an investment tool. On the other hand, some countries react differently to the presence of bitcoin. China and Russia are some countries that reject the presence of bitcoin. While Japan accepts bitcoin transactions.