Indonesia’s
government
has
shown
a
keen
interest
in
crypto
–
but
the
general
elections
in
February
could
shake
things
up
for
the
industry,
especially
if
leadership
were
to
change.
While
current
President
Joko
Widodo’s
government
had
global
plans
for
crypto
issued
in
Indonesia,
and
even
set
up
the
world’s
first
bourse
for
digital
assets,
the
next
leaders
may
not
be
as
excited
about
the
sector.
Not
all
leading
candidates
have
been
vocal
about
crypto,
but
their
comments
offer
clues
about
where
the
industry
might
be
headed
under
their
leadership.
For
instance,
presidential
and
vice-presidential
candidates
Anies
Baswedan
and
Muhaimin
Iskandar
have
been
relatively
quiet
on
crypto
matters.
However,
they
represent
the
opposition,
and
the
duo
has
plans
for
an
overhaul
of
existing
policies,
which
may
have
some
consequences
for
the
crypto
sector.
In
2022,
Muhaimin
advocated
for
taxing
crypto
transactions
to
boost
state
revenues.
He
also
called
for
stricter
regulation,
including
for
the
sector
to
be
supervised
by
the
Financial
Services
Authority
(OJK).
The
OJK
will
indeed
be
taking
over
crypto
supervision
in
2025,
but
the
industry
is
hoping
that
changeover
could
mean
lesser
tax
burdens
for
crypto
users
and
exchanges
–
something
it
says
has
been
driving
away
traders.
Another
candidate
pair
is
made
up
of
presidential
hopeful
Ganjar
Pranowo
and
his
running
mate
Mahfud
MD,
who
is
a
veteran
politician
and
constitutional
law
expert.
They
haven’t
talked
about
crypto
during
the
campaign,
but
back
in
2022,
when
non-fungible
tokens
(NFT)
were
having
a
moment,
Ganjar,
the
governor
of
Central
Java
at
that
time,
praised
the
creativity
of
NFTs.
Ganjar
saw
Ghozali,
one
of
Indonesia’s
NFT
success
stories,
as
a
source
of
inspiration
for
the
country’s
youth.
Still,
he
made
sure
to
drop
a
reminder
on
the
importance
of
paying
taxes
to
keep
the
nation’s
well-being.
Leading
the
race
The
candidate
most
vocal
about
crypto
so
far
is
Gibran
Rakabuming
Raka,
the
controversial
running
mate
of
current
Defense
Minister
Prabowo
Subianto.
Raka
is
the
son
of
President
Widodo
and
a
strong
proponent
of
digitization
–
particularly
with
blockchain
and
crypto.
In
December,
he
made
headlines
for
saying
he
wants
to
prepare
blockchain
and
crypto
experts
to
improve
Indonesia’s
tech
sector.
He
reiterated
this
during
the
second
official
presidential
debate
focused
on
economic
and
infrastructure
topics
on
Dec.
22.
Prabowo
has
meanwhile
said
his
government
will
enhance
the
supervision
of
tax
compliance
among
stock
and
crypto
traders
to
combat
tax
evasion.
Prabowo
and
Raka
together
seem
to
be
most
likely
to
continue
existing
policies
and
attitudes
toward
crypto
in
the
country
–
and
potentially
embrace
more
crypto-friendly
regulatory
changes.
Indonesia’s
general
elections
are
set
to
start
on
Feb.
14.
