Indonesia Will Ban Bitcoin In 2018

Indonesia's central bank "is drawing up regulation to enact a sweeping ban on all forms of cryptocurrency....claiming the crippling regulation was required to maintain the sovereignty of the rupiah [Indonesia’s fiat currency] as the country’s legal tender," reports CryptoCoinsNews.

Image: Bloomberg

It will be a complete ban, partly to protect the sovereignty of the rupiah, Indonesia's currency. Other reasons for the ban on cryptocurrencies include potential abuse by terrorists and money launderers. Cryptocurrency is a favored method of payment for illicit products and services on the dark web.

Indonesia is not alone in fearing cryptocurrency. In the UK, reports Financial Times, banks are shunning companies that handle cryptocurrencies.

Pan Gongsheng, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, has very little faith in Bitcoin. Quartz reported this week that Pan thinks "Bitcoin will die of a grand theft, a hack into the blockchain technology behind the cryptocurrency (which actually is unlikely), or a collective ban by global governments."

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not banned everywhere, of course. Some nations, such as Japan, have actually embraced them. "Governments that ‘get’ bitcoin, such as Japan, have passed legislation that protects its citizens whilst facilitating the free trade of the digital currency," Bitcoin.com reported in November.