Is it against the law to buy Bitcoin in Indonesia?

Hey everyone I'm studying in Bali right now and I'm thinking about picking up some bitcoins or altcoins. But I can't seem to find any solid info on the legal stuff here. So can I actually buy bitcoin in Indonesia? Or is it illegal and risky to do that here? Thanks for any insights! I'll check back in an hour.

You can buy and sell Bitcoin with fiat, but you can't use them to pay for anything. For as long as you don't use them to purchase goods/services, you should be fine. Source: As a sidenote, you can't use any foreign currency to buy anything within the country in normal circumstances either, so this isn't specific to Bitcoins or crypto. The Rupiah is their only legal tender.

Terima kasih! (Thank you!)

You can't use them in order to buy anything means you can't use bitcoin in oder to buy altcoins, right?

It would also help if you will ask directly in their local board which they will not only answer but will also give you some tips on where you will buy and sell Bitcoin. Asking at a local board will really help you a lot especially in these kinds of questions as they know more about their own domestic laws compared to us, and our answers might be different from them.

No.You can buy altcoins with your bitcoin for that you have to login to an exchange and deposit your bitcoins there and trade it for your desired altcoin(s).Only you can't use them to buy goods which means you can't use it as a payment option like in shops to buy a mobile or a car like that but altcoins is an another crypto currency so you have no problem with that and more over no one will know what altcoins you have once you move them into a safe wallet.

You're essentially just trading Bitcoin so that should be fine. Crypto activities as a whole was unaffected as far as I know. Either way, I think there was a crackdown a few months ago, and they mainly went for merchants which accept Bitcoin. You, as a buyer, shouldn't get into too much trouble for offering to buy things for Bitcoin unless you do it blatantly. Merchants would bear most of the responsibility as they're not allowed to accept in the first place.

In January, Bank Indonesia did issue a press release warning all parties not to sell, buy, or trade cryptocurrencies, but if we go by the recent reports, Indonesia's Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI) signing a decree to allow cryptocurrency trading on futures exchanges as a commodity then it's possible that the Indonesian government would soon regulate cryptocurrencies, but for the time being BI and OJK still doesn't recognize cryptocurrencies as valid means of payment. http://bitcoinist.com/indonesia-legitimize-cryptocurrencies-commodity https://www.bi.go.id/en/ruang-media/siaran-pers/Pages/sp_200418.aspx

I think that you can possibly buy bitcoin in your country. Buying and selling bitcoin is not prohibited, but the use of it as a legal tender is not yet probably accepted in your country. There should be no law prohibiting the act of selling and buying bitcoin in your country, therefore, it is safe to say that it is legal.

I want to straighten out that it is illegal to buy and sell freely in the community. if it is illegal in Indonesia everyone who play in crypto world must be sanctioned by the state. This in because there are parties who have not allowed that bitcoin can not be a tool to buy and sell. with their lack of significance.

If the government about it,then i think you are at liberty to trade it informally,..Indonesia has a local community on this platform,they can give you some more info.Most governments are not sure how to handle crypto yet,so they are silent in as much as you keep your holdings in small amounts.

Thank you guys! Yeah the local board is very helpful

What I know is that cryptocurrencies including bitcoin are legal in Indonesia. Yes, the legality is only up to trade and hold, and it's illegal when used as a payment tool. More here, https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Bank-Indonesia-declares-bitcoin-payment-illegal

Good that someone instantly helped you with that.. If questions like this that is directed to one country’s policy then local board got all the answers for you.. I know not all country have local board then at that point this post is perfectly belong here,, but Indonesia have one.. And now that this post been answered,, the best thing to do is locked it up to avoid spammers from answering same shit every time..

I also have not seen yet whether the given country is friendly regarding this.

live back to itself bold or not to invest, because already many investors who have joined, as long as bitcoin is considered as a commodity like gold is not prohibited, which should not be used as a means of payment.

Their government forbid bitcoin usage but it's still not against the law because they are not make any legal regulation yet. So you can use bitcoin but with your own risk if in case, you got scam , Indonesian's law can't do anything to help you out !

Not true. Refer to this quote and article: And another article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/indonesia-bans-foreign-currencies-in-domestic-transactions-1435658477 It's not that they're banning Bitcoin, specifically, to be used as currency. They don't allow anyone to accept anything other than their local currency. You probably won't get in trouble by trying to pay in Bitcoin, but accepting it as payment is a different story.

Although Bitcoin has been declared an illegal payment and transaction instrument in the country, the government is still considering the cryptocurrency's use as an investment instrument, the Trade Ministry's Futures Exchange Supervisory Board (Bappebti) has said. “Using Bitcoin as a payment instrument is prohibited, but how about using it as an investment instrument? Is this allowed or not?” Bappebti head Bachrul Chairi said on Tuesday in Jakarta, as reported by kompas.com. (Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/01/24/indonesia-studying-bitcoins-use-in-investment-official.html ) It is pretty much clear from the ongoing discussion that in Indonesia they consider bitcoin as a commodity rather than a digital asset. but there is no regulation in the country regarding the ban on using bitcoin as an investment instrument. So citizens there are free to use bitcoin as a means of investment opportunities.

No final decision yet with regards to the legality of bitcoin in Indonesia and maybe they just really want to warn their own citizen about investing with bitcoin. They believe that using bitcoin for online transactions is quiet not acceptable because of its risk though bitcoin investment is still on-going so meaning its not ban.