72% of Indonesian Crypto Exchanges Still Unprofitable Despite 20M Users
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) reported that roughly 72% of licensed crypto exchanges within the nation remained unprofitable as of the tip of 2025, even because the quantity of crypto customers surpassed 20 million.
The figures spotlight a structural problem: a booming person base that more and more prefers abroad platforms, leaving home exchanges struggling to compete.
Indonesia’s Cost and Liquidity Gap
According to OJK knowledge cited by native media, the overall worth of crypto transactions fell to IDR 482.23 trillion (~$30 billion) in 2025, down from IDR 650 trillion in 2024. OJK attributed this to Indonesian traders more and more buying and selling via regional and world platforms quite than home exchanges.
Indodax CEO William Sutanto mentioned the outflow stems from merchants looking for extra aggressive circumstances overseas.
“The quantity of crypto customers in Indonesia is already giant, however home transaction worth isn’t optimum as a result of a lot of the exercise flows into the worldwide ecosystem. The market will search for locations with extra environment friendly execution and aggressive prices,” Sutanto mentioned.
He pointed to an uneven taking part in area: home exchanges bear tax and compliance burdens that overseas platforms serving Indonesian customers don’t face. Indonesian traders can nonetheless entry abroad exchanges by way of VPN, with deposits processed via native banks.
“Foreign exchanges don’t have the identical tax and compliance burdens as home gamers, however they’ll nonetheless be accessed by Indonesian traders,” Sutanto famous.
Indonesian crypto customers talking to BeInCrypto cited a number of causes for preferring abroad platforms: decrease prices, sooner withdrawals, and lingering safety issues after Indodax’s 2024 hack. “Local exchanges ask for a lot paperwork for withdrawals over $1,000. With P2P on world exchanges, it takes lower than a minute,” one person mentioned.
Structural Pressures
The Indonesian crypto market underwent a significant regulatory shift on January 10, 2025, when oversight transferred from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti) to OJK. The regulator moved to interrupt up the earlier single-exchange construction by issuing new licenses. However, with 29 licensed exchanges now competing for a restricted home market, profitability pressures have intensified.
Adding to the stress, world gamers are getting into the market immediately. Robinhood announced plans in December to accumulate Indonesian brokerage PT Buana Capital Sekuritas and licensed crypto dealer PT Pedagang Aset Kripto.
Bybit additionally introduced a strategic partnership with the native platform NOBI to launch Bybit Indonesia, whereas Binance already operates in Indonesia via its subsidiary, Tokocrypto. The inflow of well-capitalized world rivals is intensifying stress on home exchanges, that are already fighting skinny margins.
Beyond licensed world rivals, unlicensed platforms additionally drain the market. They are estimated to price Indonesia $70–110 million in misplaced tax income yearly.
Trust Concerns for Indonesian Exchanges
The challenges come as Indodax itself faces scrutiny. OJK is currently investigating experiences of roughly IDR 600 million in lacking buyer funds. While Indodax has attributed the losses to exterior components similar to phishing and social engineering quite than system breaches, the case highlights the belief points home exchanges should overcome to retain customers.
Sutanto known as for constant enforcement in opposition to unlawful overseas platforms alongside efforts to construct a more healthy home ecosystem, including that collaboration between regulators and business gamers is essential.
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