Jakarta. The crypto industry is pushing back against a planned revision to the Financial Sector Development and Strengthening Law (P2SK), arguing the draft would centralize trading inside a state-controlled bourse and effectively shut down licensed crypto exchanges.

According to industry players, new provisions being drafted in the P2SK Law would fundamentally alter how the crypto market functions. They warn that the clauses, including Article 215C (9) and Article 312A (c), centralize trading responsibilities under a state-controlled bourse by giving it ownership or control of all digital asset trading systems, including crypto and derivatives. That structure, they argue, eliminates the independent role of crypto exchanges and concentrates all activity and monetization inside the bourse.

“This threatens the very core of our business model,” said William Sutanto, vice chair of the Indonesian Blockchain Association and CEO of Indodax, the country’s largest crypto trading platform, on Tuesday. “If exchanges are no longer allowed to perform their trading function, we would have to redesign a business we’ve run for more than 11 years. The impact would be significant on revenue and stability.” He warned that restructuring, including layoffs, could become unavoidable.

Concern is also mounting over how broad and ambiguous some of the proposed phrasing is. Hamdi Hassyarbaini, president director of Sentra Bitwewe Indonesia, said the revisions open the possibility that all trading could be placed solely under the bourse, with crypto exchanges stripped of operational relevance. He said such an outcome would instantly cut off the main source of revenue for 25 licensed exchanges and could trigger wave after wave of layoffs, corporate shutdowns, and collapsing innovation. He added that crypto, by nature, is borderless, and that restrictive domestic rules would simply reroute Indonesian users to offshore platforms, resulting in a loss of economic value and tax revenue for the country.

Lawmakers insist the process is not final. Fauzi H. Amro, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission XI, said deliberations of the P2SK Law are still awaiting a Presidential Letter before formal committee debate proceeds. He stressed that the aim is to strengthen the financial sector, not suffocate it.

“We want clear rules and safety, end-to-end,” he said. “The principle is strengthening, not constraining. After the Supres is issued, we will involve all stakeholders so the outcome is balanced and does not harm anyone.”

As of September 2025, Indonesia has 16 licensed crypto exchanges, including Pluang, Indodax, Tokocrypto, Ajaib, Bitwewe, and TRIV. From January to September 2025, total crypto transaction value reached Rp360.3 trillion ($21.5 billion), with 18.08 million users as of August. Market capitalization stood at Rp36.75 trillion in August, up from Rp36.58 trillion in July.

Article 312 of the P2SK Law mandates that the transfer of regulatory and supervisory responsibilities for Digital Financial Assets from the Trade Ministry’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) be fully completed by Jan. 12, 2025. The transfer was officially finalized on July 30, 2025.

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