Yesterday, Tech in Asia ran a story about how to purchase and use Bitcoin in Asia. At the beginning of last year, the Bank of Indonesia publicly stated that bitcoin is not a legal form of payment within the archipelago. However, as it’s extremely difficult to regulate the sale and use of digital currencies like bitcoin, transactions using the currency in Indonesia remain high. Oscar Darmawan, CEO of Bitcoin Indonesia, claims that each day there are between US$30,000 to US$50,000 worth of bitcoin transactions in the country.
While there are many ways to have a conversation about Bitcoin’s benefits and drawbacks in Indonesia, in terms of tech startup participation, Bitcoin seems to be heating up. It has also proven to be a convenient way to pay and get paid for digital services. As a result, some companies are focusing explicitly on the cryptocurrency market in the archipelago. Tech in Asia has decided it’s time to round up these guys, so, in no particular order, here are five of the most well-known Bitcoin startups in Indonesia.
ArtaBit
This site can be regarded as one of the pioneers for Bitcoin in Indonesia, as the company has been around for more than two years already. Essentially, ArtaBit is a digital payment system that uses Bitcoin. So if your startup is an ecommerce website, you can integrate ArtaBit services to support bitcoin payments. In addition, the site also lets you purchase bitcoins with Indonesian rupiah.
ArtaBit founder Ayoub Naciri expects Bitcoin will take off in emerging markets like Indonesia as more than 80 percent of the population still lacks a bank account.
Bitcoin.co.id
Bitcoin.co.id (aka Bitcoin Indonesia) launched around the same time as ArtaBit. However, unlike its competitor which acts as a payment system, Bitcoin.co.id is a trading center only. On the site’s homepage, you can see the latest bitcoin exchange rates, including the lowest and highest levels of the week, and where it currently sits. Each update comes in three-hour intervals. The site itself does not set the exchange rate, but instead just presents the exchange rates offered by sellers.
Bitcoin.co.id is arguably one of the more trusted exchanges in Indonesia, as the site claims all deposits and withdrawls are processed within 12 hours, and that it uses military-grade cryptography to protect users against fraud.
BitDoku
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