Cryptos in Indonesia: 20M users, 70% losses-what’s going wrong?

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In a scene unaudited by any paternal secretary, the Indonesian Financial Services Authority, OJK, confessed that roughly seventy‑two percent of locally licensed crypto exchanges still languish in loss, even as an astonishing twenty million users have crept onto their platforms.

This stark tableau exposes a structural hiccup: a swelling body of users, ardently enamoured with overseas exchanges, leaving domestic players to their solitary endeavors.

Indonesia’s Cost and Liquidity Gap

OJK’s ledger, borrowed from local press, reports that the sum of crypto trades slid to IDR 482.23 trillion-about $30 billion-in 2025, down from IDR 650 trillion in 2024. The culprit, OJK claims, is a growing tendency among Indonesian investors to trade across regional and global fronts rather than stay home.

Indodax CEO William Sutanto bluntly admits the outflow stems from traders hunting cheaper, faster-and less red‑taped-concessions abroad.

“The number of crypto users in Indonesia is already large, but domestic transaction value isn’t optimal because much of the activity flows into the global ecosystem. The market will look for places with more efficient execution and competitive costs,” Sutanto said.

He depicts a lopsided playing field: domestic exchanges bear taxes and red‑tape that foreign platforms serving Indonesian clientele shrug off. Indonesian investors still gain entry to overseas exchanges via VPN, with deposits channeled through local banks.

“Foreign exchanges don’t have the same tax and compliance burdens as domestic players, but they can still be accessed by Indonesian investors,” Sutanto noted.

When speaking to BeInCrypto, local users cited lower fees, faster withdrawals, and the lingering shadow of Indodax’s 2024 hack. “Local exchanges ask for so much paperwork for withdrawals over $1,000. With P2P on global exchanges, it takes less than a minute,” one said.

Structural Pressures

Regulation shook its bones on 10 January 2025, when oversight slipped from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency to OJK. The regulator cracked open the old single‑exchange monopoly, issuing new licences, but now 29 exchanges vie for a market that has rather modest appetite, amplifying the squeeze on profitability.

Adding to the squeeze, globetrotting giants have opened doors. Robinhood, in a gleeful December announcement, intended to take over Indonesian brokerage PT Buana Capital Sekuritas and the licensed crypto trader PT Pedagang Aset Kripto. Bybit announced a partnership with local NOBI to launch Bybit Indonesia, while Binance already operates through its Tokocrypto subsidiary. These well‑capitalised intruders hasten the tide against domestic exchanges, whose margins are already as thin as a forgotten soup.

Unlicensed platforms also drain the coffers, costing Indonesia an estimated $70-110 million per annum in lost tax revenue.

Trust Concerns for Indonesian Exchanges

Indodax itself now attracts the authorities’ lantern. OJK probes reports of roughly IDR 600 million in missing customer funds. While Indodax blames phishing and social engineering rather than a breach in its own systems, the case illustrates the trust rift domestic exchanges must bridge to keep patrons.

Sutanto exhorts for a firm hand against illegal foreign platforms while urging regulators and industry to forge a healthier domestic ecosystem-a partnership, rather than a duel, beckons.

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2026-01-30 03:31