The end of August was an exciting time for crypto enthusiasts –and proponents of the Web3 space in general– in Indonesia. There were at least two major events happening that allows them to meet up and share insights about the future of the industry.

I had the opportunity to attend sessions at the NXC International Summit where Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga announced the country’s plan to establish a crypto stock exchange by the end of 2022. In his presentation, Sambuaga explained that the exchange will list companies in the crypto industry (that have been granted licences by the country’s financial watchdog).

The introduction of the exchange itself is a means to protect consumers.

This update is not the only want that makes us feel optimistic about the Indonesian government embracing crypto –and Web3 innovation in general. In a recent interview with e27, Steven Suhadi, Founder of Standard Alpha and Indonesia Crypto Network (ICN), detailed the potential of the Indonesian crypto scene.

“We already have regulations about crypto in Indonesia, while some other markets in the region don’t have clear regulations yet,” Suhadi says. “So we see the cryptocurrency scene is growing rapidly. For example, before the regulation was introduced, there were only two exchanges when we started Standard Alpha and ICN. And now, we have 25 registered exchanges … We’re also speaking to a lot of institutions. Not only a lot of Web2 companies are starting to say, ‘Okay, how do we get into Web3’, but many institutions from traditional finance are also saying, ‘We need to participate in this.’”

Also Read: We’re still in the dot-com phase of Web3: Steven Suhadi of Standard Alpha

He also explains why tech hub such as Bali is the right breeding ground for it.

“All the regulations happen in Jakarta, the capital city, but Bali has a thriving community. And even the Jakarta players start to have offices in Bali either to give their teams a work-life balance or they want to tap into the local community here — expert developers or different sorts of conceptual thinking, people experimenting. They want to merge that and fuse that with the knowledge and bring that relevant skills back to Jakarta.

What Indonesia needs to do

When we look at the details of the situation on the ground, and the promises of what is coming next, it does look like Indonesia has a great future in the Web3 sector. It has all the elements of a supportive ecosystem from a close-knit community to initiative that keep up with the changes in society.

But there is always something to improve on. In this matter, we can boil them down into one major concern: Consumer protection and the willingness to move swiftly to ensure it.

“As a result, Elliptic expects consumer protection will be the major regulatory focus issue of 2022, and consumer protection authorities will become major forces shaping the crypto space,” writes David Carlisle, Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Elliptic, in a blog post.

Also Read: How to scale voluntary carbon markets with DeFi and Web3

With the upcoming launch of the crypto exchange, and the licensing that the government is giving to existing companies in the crypto industry, we can see that there is already a commitment to ensure consumer protection.

However, whenever Something Bad Happened, the public has to be ensured that the government will be there for them –and honestly, the precedent is not always great.

The public may have strong reasons to be concerned following a recent incident where hacker Bjorka claimed to have breached state cybersecurity defenses. This move resulted in the compromise of billions of pieces of citizens’ personal data.

Critics have been dubbing the government’s response as ‘lacking’, as reported by The Jakarta Post.

If our intention is to build a strong ecosystem for the Web3 industry, then building trust should remain a priority in the government’s mind. We already have a good plan set on paper; let us make sure that the practice will be just as good.

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