With 275 million people as of 2024, Indonesia’s islands make up a large and busy economy, with an equally large cryptocurrency appetite! That’s also why we think Rizky is the perfect Indonesia ambassador: as a former Scrum master, he’s used to managing large and complex organizations, and today, as a Bitcoin educator and community builder, our visions and passions of global financial accessibility align. When he’s not helping Paxful in Indonesia, he loves music, weight lifting, and philosophy podcasts. 

Join us to learn how Rizky sees Indonesia changing:

Tell us how your crypto journey began, and where it stands today. How are you involved today in the cryptocurrency ecosystem in your region?

Here comes the usual regret crypto story: had I been aware of it since 2009, I believe I would have mined, bought, and held Bitcoin – even through the wild ups and downs! By now, I expect my parents might have been homeowners if I did. 

Why? Because in 2008, I was a computer science student who had watched a documentary about the fiat money problem. Yet, the first time I heard Bitcoin was in 2017.

Like I think I am, I believe Indonesians were a little bit late in embracing Bitcoin. Personally, I know very few people who bought Bitcoin in 2013 – but as a country, we are catching up!

In the past, I’ve helped with Bitcoin hackathons, like at a recent conference in Bali, do a lot to educate my community about Bitcoin, and participate in frequent local Web3 events – sometimes even hosting them myself! I also started Sila Kelima Foundation to educate the Indonesian muslim that Bitcoin is actually far more inline with Islamic principle than fiat money. 

How has your perspective on digital assets changed since first learning about cryptocurrencies? What role do cryptocurrencies play in your life today?

I think my case is quite unique. The Zeitgeist documentary exposed me to the corruption of the exponentially-inflated fiat, even before Satoshi published the Bitcoin white paper. Fast forward, that knowledge partly helped me in digesting the “why” of Bitcoin in 2017. The other help was from my memory of the Asian ‘97-’98 hyperinflation crisis. I’m lucky to be old enough to remember it.

Interestingly, despite that quick acceptance, I still had my “blockchain, not Bitcoin” phase & regret buying some of the popular “utility” coins of the day instead. Though I don’t view myself as a Bitcoin maximalist, I realize now there are only a few use cases which need an immutable, neutral, public database – in other words, a blockchain. 

For the money & investment use case, Bitcoin is the winner-take-all – especially since the arrival of scaling technology like Lightning Network. The other possible use case for a blockchain is a general election, in my opinion. For that reason, I use cryptocurrency to save – and little else.

How did you first encounter peer-to-peer trading? What about Paxful, specifically?

When I was helping at the Bitcoin conference at the end of 2023, I learned about Lightning Network. I was amazed by the technology, and looked around to find no centralized exchange in Indonesia supported it at the time – and also at the time, foreign exchanges were blocked locally.

A bit of Googling later, I found Paxful, learned they support Lightning Network, and dove into peer-to-peer trading for the first time. The rest is history.

Frontline Report: Get to Know Cryptocurrency in Indonesia

What sort of economic, financial and access problems exist in your country? How are cryptocurrencies addressing or influencing these issues?

Our infrastructure is quite good. Reliable bank transfer & QR-based payments (much like in China) are available to most of the citizens. There are a lot of digital banks that can set up your account in minutes for free; you just need a phone & a national ID card. For remittance, we don’t have as many overseas workers as in the Philippines.

So, I believe the answer is the old classic foreign debt & money printing problem.

Even though the post ‘98 hyperinflation central bank was generally prudent, the past 10 years the government was very aggressive in terms of fiscal spending. They built highways, international airports, or even a new capital city. Not to mention, easing the consumptive credit to the public via fintech startups. 

Those approaches will ultimately lead to more inflation – which is currently dominating the news already. Sadly, it seems the next 5 years will be similar or worse.

With this context, I bet Bitcoin will become a more and more popular tool to hedge against inflation & political instability. Those are two sides of the same coin, the ‘98 experience was a hard lesson for us Indonesian on that.

What is the broad opinion of cryptocurrencies in your region, at the national level? And at the grassroots retail user level?

In my experience, the government just views it as commodities & source of tax revenue – no endorsement nor discouragement. In my view, the public still views cryptocurrency as a should-be-avoided esoteric investment scheme.

At the same time, I think it’s fair to appreciate the Indonesian government’s speed in giving clarity to this market: cryptocurrencies are regulated as commodities. 

Local faith majorities make this issue a bit more complicated: the government-funded Islamic religious scholars body (MUI) still declares that cryptocurrency is religiously forbidden, due to the harm from its speculative investment aspect. Indonesia has 87% of its population identified as Muslim, so MUI’s stance sometimes blocks grassroot acceptance. Thankfully, local events and community groups are doing a lot to show religious and secular Indonesians that Bitcoin has a lot to offer – and making great progress.

In the next 5 years, I hope MUI will revise their stance and our government will follow the El Salvador path to mine Bitcoin using Indonesia’s abundant geothermal energy.

How do you see cryptocurrency usage changing with time in your region?

If inflation becomes more severe from time to time, I believe the sentiment would shift to be more positive for cryptocurrency. We experienced a violent and politically tumultuous time during the period of 90s hyperinflation, and no Indonesian wishes to repeat the experience.

I also predict the rise of P2P over time. Why? I think more & more people will realize the tremendous amount of power centralized exchanges have accrued, with equal parts risk – as the collapse of FTX and occasional national bans of other exchanges have proven.