Cryptocurrency investments in Indonesia have seen considerable growth between 2020 and 2022, with 4% of the country's population having invested in crypto.
In 2021, crypto transaction volumes exceeded $34 billion, according to the Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.
This growth has shaped a new mindset towards investing in cryptocurrencies, especially in the mainstream media. An example of the growing appeal of cryptocurrencies in the mainstream is the involvement of celebrities and influencers from Indonesia.
Crypto Adoption Among Celebrities
Celebrities and influencers in Indonesia seem to have become much more involved in the Indonesian crypto investment industry since 2021.
Many have become brand ambassadors for crypto exchanges and projects to help promote them and essentially increase trading volume.
The involvement of the likes of Joe Taslim, an Indonesian actor gone global, and Indonesian models and actresses Jessica Iskandar and Shandy Aulia might not be surprising, considering the inescapable presence of celebrities in advertising and branding.
Some celebrities have even created their own cryptocurrency.
The celebrity listing trend has skyrocketed, especially after one of Indonesia's most prominent musicians, Anang Hermansyah, created her own listing.
Three tokens have gone viral in Indonesia as of February 2022: VCG (VCG), Asix (ASIX), and I-Coin (ICN).
Asix is โโdirected by Anang Hermansyah, a leading figure in the Indonesian music industry.
VCG went viral thanks to a partnership with RANS Entertainment. This company is owned by Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina, a married couple who are prominent movie stars and entrepreneurs in Indonesia and recently nominated as Sultans of Contents by Forbes Indonesia.
I-Coin was created by Wirda Mansur, a public figure and the daughter of a renowned Indonesian Islamic cleric.
The name of the celebrities who support them and their marketing team has made their token go viral and has generated a lot of fear of missing out, or FOMO, from novice investors from Indonesia.
But, long before these, the trend started with an influencer named Indra Kenz, who created her own token with her team called Botxcoin (BOTX).
Related: Indonesian Crypto Industry in 2021: A Kaleidoscope
Celebrity NFT Projects
BOTX, an Ethereum-based project that plans to be a decentralized social trading platform, launched in 2021.
BOTX is the first celebrity token in Indonesia and its goal is to become the first decentralized copy trading platform for cryptocurrencies in Indonesia.
After its launch, influencers seemed to pay more attention to the growing blockchain and cryptocurrency trend. The trend led to a number of influencers speaking out about crypto on their own social media.
When this happened, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) also became very popular in Indonesia, especially when the collection of Indonesian NFTs was named "Ghozali Everyday". became known worldwide for its uniqueness.
Due to the rise of crypto and NFT trends, influencers and celebrities have started creating their own NFT and crypto projects.
An Indonesian celebrity who created her own NFT projects and went viral globally was Syahrini, an Indonesian singer and socialite.
Under the pseudonym Princess Syahrini, she created a collection of NFTs and sold them on the Binance NFT marketplace. Ella's NFT collection "Syahrini's Metaverse Tour" was reported to have sold out after only eight hours of being on the chart.
Another prominent figure in the Indonesian entertainment industry who created her own NFT project was actress, model and singer Luna Maya.
He launched his collection consisting of just 10 NFTs with Tokau, a Japan-based art company that has experience creating NFTs.
His collection was sold out on BakerySwap NFT Marketplace and caught a lot of attention, including from Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance.
The trend continued with more celebrities in Indonesia exploring, promoting and creating their own NFT projects.
An example of recent Indonesian influencers and celebrities promoting NFT projects included actor Brandon Salim, renowned Indonesian chef Arnold Poernomo, and the influencer known as Jejouw.
They promoted one of the most successful NFT projects in Indonesia that went global, "Karafuru", which has a current trading volume of 37,200 Ether (ETH).
government response
With the runaway hype of celebrities creating their own NFT and crypto projects, regulators are stepping in to protect investors.
The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, also known as BAPPEBTI, is currently giving warnings to celebrities to get their projects approved on the legal Indonesian crypto list before promoting them.
BAPPEBTI, which is responsible for regulating cryptocurrencies in Indonesia, warns that there are only 229 cryptocurrencies that are legal to trade and transact in Indonesia.
With that caveat, BAPPEBTI wants investors to understand that buying or selling celebrity-created tokens in Indonesia is not yet legal. The warning comes from a Twitter thread, which originated when the new investors started. torrential money on viral celebrity tokens:
โNew crypto assets to be traded in Indonesia must be registered with BAPPEBTI through Indonesian-registered crypto exchanges to be evaluated by the rules that apply in Indonesia. For that reason, crypto assets that have not been registered in the BAPPEBTI legal list of crypto assets cannot be traded in Indonesia."
So far, most of the illegal cryptocurrencies have not been fined or sentenced because most of them are in talks with BAPPEBTI. BAPPEBTI is open to new cryptocurrencies being legal in Indonesia, as long as they want to meet the requirements and processes to be legal and be supervised by the agency.
Currently, there has been no talk of banning these tokens by the government, but rather of a invitation for these tokens to be list as a legal commodity in Indonesia.
BAPPEBTI has also worked with its committees such as the Indonesian Blockchain Association to help create a better environment for crypto in Indonesia, especially with the rise of celebrity tokens.
Coinvestasi has successfully obtained a comment from the aforementioned committee on the subject of celebrity tokens.
The comment came directly from the president of the Indonesian Blockchain Association. She stated:
โMy perspective on the trend of celebrity tokens in Indonesia is neutral as long as they comply with existing regulations, because during the last few years, many Indonesians created their own cryptocurrencies. But what I think is important for Indonesian developers to understand is that their cryptocurrencies must have value for investors and users and must have something that sets them apart from other cryptocurrencies out there. This is because they have a responsibility to their investors and token holders. Developers must work together to help change the mindset of crypto as a scam in Indonesia."
This statement clearly shows that the government wants the best for investors and creators of cryptocurrencies in Indonesia. It can be concluded that the Indonesian government supports the growth of cryptocurrencies as long as it is done in a regulated and secure manner.
Growing adoption of cryptocurrencies in Indonesia
The trend of celebrities and influencers coming together to create and promote crypto projects has made the Indonesian crypto landscape bigger.
Data He showed that growth has been exponential, reaching over 100% growth in transaction volumes since 2020, largely supported by retail investors.
Institutions were also interested, such as evidenced for their involvement in financing and investing in blockchain or crypto related projects.
Major business conglomerate Sinar Mas supported the launch of a new cryptocurrency called NanoByte (NBT), which has the Tokocrypto exchange as a partner.
Nanobyte is a token created by an exchange that also plans to integrate into the current fiat payment system, integrating with e-money and credit cards in Indonesia. This is to help investors and holders use their crypto and NBT wallets to pay for their daily needs.
Another example is BRI Ventures, the venture arm of one of the major Indonesian government banks, which created an accelerator that acts as an incubator for Indonesian blockchain companies to grow globally.
These projects could trigger a domino effect among Indonesian financial institutions to invest in the blockchain or crypto sector.
But this also puts pressure on regulators to develop new regulations to support growth so that Indonesia is not left behind.
Information from Muhammad Naufal.
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