Indonesia OJK Finalizes Crypto Exchange Licensing Under...

Indonesia's crypto exchanges now answer to the Financial Services Authority instead of the commodities regulator, and the new licensing requirements suggest OJK plans to treat them more like financial institutions than trading platforms.

The handover

The Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) has formally assumed regulatory authority over crypto assets from Bappebti, the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency that supervised the sector since Indonesia first legalized crypto trading in 2019. The transfer had been legislated under the Financial Sector Development and Strengthening Law (known as the P2SK Law or UU P2SK), passed in late 2022, which gave OJK a multi-year runway to build capacity before taking the reins.

Bappebti treated crypto as a commodity. OJK treats it as a financial product. That distinction shapes everything about the new licensing framework: higher capital requirements, stricter governance standards, and reporting obligations that mirror what banks and securities firms face. For an industry that grew up under a commodity regulator with limited enforcement appetite, the shift is considerable.

What the new exchange licenses require

OJK's regulatory framework establishes a tiered licensing system for crypto asset service providers. Full-service exchanges offering spot trading, custody, and fiat on/off ramps face the steepest requirements, with paid-up capital thresholds that represent a meaningful jump from the Bappebti era.

The framework also mandates segregation of customer assets in accounts held at OJK-supervised banks, dedicated compliance officers with financial services backgrounds, and quarterly prudential reporting. Exchanges must maintain a minimum ratio of liquid assets to customer liabilities. OJK has essentially imported the kind of supervisory structure that applies to securities brokerages and adapted it for crypto platforms.

One detail that matters for international operators: OJK requires that exchange technology infrastructure, including matching engines and customer data, be hosted on servers physically located in Indonesia. This is not unusual for Southeast Asian regulators, but it eliminates the common setup where an exchange runs on cloud infrastructure in Singapore or Hong Kong while holding an Indonesian license.

Indodax and Tokocrypto: already preparing, probably fine

Indodax, Indonesia's largest exchange by trading volume and user base, has been operating since 2014. It weathered the Bappebti era with a clean compliance record and has spent the past year building out its governance and compliance teams in anticipation of OJK oversight. The exchange appointed a former banking compliance executive as its new chief compliance officer in mid-2025, which tells you everything about where it sees the regulatory direction heading.

Tokocrypto, which Binance acquired a majority stake in back in 2022, sits in a more complicated position. The Binance connection provides capital and technology, but it also brings regulatory baggage. OJK has signaled that foreign-owned exchanges will face additional scrutiny on beneficial ownership structures and data-sharing arrangements with overseas parent companies. Whether this is genuine regulatory caution or protectionism for domestic players depends on who you ask.

The smaller exchanges are the ones to watch. Indonesia had roughly 30 registered crypto exchanges under Bappebti's regime. Many operated on thin margins with minimal compliance infrastructure. OJK's capital and compliance requirements will force consolidation. Expect that number to drop to 10 or 15 within two years.

What this means for Southeast Asian crypto

Indonesia is the largest crypto market in Southeast Asia by user count, with estimates ranging from 18 to 20 million registered accounts across all exchanges. It is also the largest economy in the region and a member of the G20. When Indonesia formalizes its crypto regulatory framework under a financial services authority rather than a commodity regulator, it sends a signal to the rest of ASEAN.

Thailand already regulates crypto under its Securities and Exchange Commission. Singapore uses MAS. The Philippines has the BSP and SEC splitting oversight. But Indonesia's approach, bringing crypto fully under the same agency that supervises banks, insurers, and capital markets, goes further than most regional peers in integrating crypto into the mainstream financial regulatory architecture.

For exchanges currently licensed in Singapore or operating across ASEAN markets, Indonesia's OJK transition creates both a compliance burden and a market opportunity. The compliance burden is obvious: another jurisdiction, another license, another set of reporting requirements. The opportunity is that a credible Indonesian license, one issued by OJK rather than Bappebti, carries more weight with institutional counterparties and banking partners than the old commodity-based registration ever did.

The real test comes later

OJK's framework looks competent on paper. The question is execution. OJK already supervises over 2,000 financial institutions across banking, insurance, and capital markets. Adding crypto exchanges to that portfolio requires new expertise, new systems, and new staff. The agency has been hiring, but building a crypto supervision team that can match the sophistication of the industry it regulates takes more than a year of recruitment.

The transition period gives existing exchanges time to comply. It also gives OJK time to figure out how to actually supervise this sector. Both sides need that runway. The exchanges that take compliance seriously during the transition will be the ones that thrive under the new regime. The ones treating it as a box-ticking exercise will find out that OJK, for all its growing pains, has enforcement tools that Bappebti never did.