Binance Expands: Invests Indonesia-based Regulated Exchange

It seems that almost every week, Binance is pushing and expanding into some new field, technology, company, or country. Its most recent such venture is pushing into the potential of Indonesia’s crypto market. The heavyweight exchange platform has recently made an investment of undisclosed amount to Tokocrypto, a regulated exchange based in the city of Jakarta.

Investing In Established Business

On Tuesday morning, Binance made the announcement, stating that the funding will be dedicated to growing the business Tokocrypto holds. This, according to the announcement, entails building new products and offerings, expanding its customer base, as well as improving the tech stack of the exchange.

Tokocrypto was launched back in 2018, becoming the first exchange to be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI) of Indonesia in 2019, as well.

Potential For Crypto Market Heavyweight

Indonesia is one of the countries that have strict regulations when it comes to cryptocurrencies as a whole. As a testament to this, crypto is outlawed outright as a means of payment within the country. Should a Bitcoin trader wish to trade in crypto derivatives, however, this investor would be mandated to put up a high amount of minimum capital first. This comes thanks to new regulations that had been passed earlier this year.

Within the small cracks where the Indonesian government allows crypto to exist, it seems to be flourishing indeed. Indonesia stands as the fourth most populous country, which means that a flourishing Bitcoin trading space shows for great potential. While there is no set independent data to quantify the size and scope of Indonesia’s local crypto markets, sources in the industry spoke to Reuters in February this year. Through this, it can be gleaned that the crypto market within the country could very well be the same size and scope of the stock markets of Indonesia.

The Mandatory Public Statement

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao stands as the CEO and founder of Binance and gave a public statement regarding this move as well. According to Zhao, Indonesia will soon become one of the leaders within the Southeast Asian blockchain ecosystem. Through the investment of Tokocrypto, CZ says, Binance will explore the opportunities within the Indonesian market through its new regulated local partner. The goal, according to the statement, at least, is to push for freedom of money within the country.

Binance wasn’t the first to do so, however. Huobi, Binance’s rival, was the first heavyweight exchange to move into Indonesia, had launched a local entity there in 2018. Binance, by comparison, is far more recent, having added the Indonesian Rupiah currency to its peer-to-peer platform back in April of this year.