Coinbase, Crypto.com eye expansion into Indonesia

Coinbase and Crypto.com are forming their local teams in Indonesia as they plan to enter Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

The companies are searching for a country lead to start their expansion into Indonesia. As stated on their respective LinkedIn pages, Coinbase is seeking a country director in Indonesia, while Crypto.com is looking for a general manager.

Photo credit: Coinbase

Founded in 2012, Nasdaq-listed Coinbase is a trading platform where people can transact using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ether, and litecoin. The US-based company serves around 89 million users across the world.

Crypto.com was established in Singapore in 2016. The digital exchange currently has 10 million users.

Besides Indonesia, Coinbase is also setting its sights on other markets in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.

See also: Coinbase kicks off hiring spree in Asia, other regions

Both platforms already have users in Indonesia as their services are available globally. In fact, Coinbase has made some moves in the country by participating in a US$6 million series A funding of local crypto exchange Pintu. Coinbase’s VC arm also invested in Pintu’s US$35 million series A round.

Pintu is one of 11 crypto trading companies registered with Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.

The presence of the two more firms will certainly make competition tighter as interest in crypto assets continues to increase in Indonesia.

As of February, there are around 12.4 million crypto investors in the country, a striking increase from 4.5 million in 2021, according to the Ministry of Trade.

Recently, Indonesian regulators announced that effective May, an income tax and value added tax will be imposed at a final rate of 0.1% for each crypto asset purchase transaction. This decision is based on the government’s view that crypto is a commodity, not a means of payment.