Indonesia bans Bitcoin payments

People's Daily Online, Jakarta, January 25 (Reporter Xi Laiwang) The Indonesian Central Bank once again publicly confirmed on January 24 that due to the anonymous transaction characteristics of the digital currency Bitcoin, it is very likely to be used for terrorist financing and money laundering activities. According to statistics from the relevant functional departments of the central bank, Bitcoin has previously been used for terrorist activities, including the terrorist bombing in the capital Jakarta in 2015, when the perpetrators threatened the shopping mall management and demanded a large amount of Bitcoin as ransom.

Teguh Setiadi, an official from the Payment System and Monetary Management Department of the Indonesian Central Bank, announced in Bali yesterday that in view of the serious harm of Bitcoin that may be used for terrorist financing and money laundering, the Indonesian government and the central bank remind the public not to use Bitcoin as a means of payment, because such transactions violate the country's currency law. Moreover, due to the lack of supervision of Bitcoin, it is difficult to protect the public interest and often causes economic losses to users.

Last year, the Indonesian central bank revealed that it was considering new stringent regulatory measures to ban Bitcoin transactions from 2018 in order to maintain the dominance of the national currency, the rupee, due to concerns that Bitcoin could be used for terrorist financing, money laundering and drug trafficking. Since last year, the Indonesian central bank has been conducting a review to determine whether Bitcoin is regulated under existing electronic currency rules or whether digital currencies are regulated in a separate framework. The Indonesian central bank has called on merchants not to accept Bitcoin as a payment method, saying that Indonesian banks will not be responsible for losses caused by Bitcoin transactions. Indonesian financial regulators have also warned retail investors to stay away from Bitcoin.