Following the launch of its government-backed crypto exchange, the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia is becoming a budding crypto hub that aims to be one of the leaders in Web3 technology, according to Indonesian blockchain and metaverse executives.
At the recent crypto events in Dubai, Cointelegraph spoke with Grace Sabandar, the co-founder of the Indonesia Blockchain and Metaverse Center (IBMC) and Tuhu Nugraha, the principal of the Indonesia Applied Digital Economy and Regulatory Network (IADERN). The executives spoke on the state of digital assets, blockchain and metaverse adoption in Indonesia.
According to Sabandar, the country’s population of 270 million includes a large percentage of the younger generation, a demographic that’s “adaptive to new technology.” The executive also pointed out that because of this, the country has been one of the largest userbases in the world when it comes to Web2 social media applications like Facebook and Instagram.
Grace Sabandar delivers a keynote speech at the Blockchain Economy Summit held in Le Meridien Dubai. Source: Cointelegraph
Because of these, Sabandar told Cointelegraph that the country is ready to be one of the leaders in Web3 adoption. “We want to be the leader, not only the user of technology, because now, because of the decentralization, anybody can do something, anybody can create something,” she said.
Sabandar also highlighted that at the IBMC, they have been working with various sectors, including the government, private sector communities, media and academia, to work on educating the country about Web3. She explained:
“That’s our homework, actually. To really educate people about the benefit of using blockchain, about the transparency, about how smart contracts can benefit their businesses, about what is the decentralization, things like that.”
Meanwhile, Nugraha, who works as an adviser for the Indonesian government when it comes to its research on blockchain and metaverse technologies, said that the government’s approach to Web3 technology is very collaborative.
Tuhu Nugraha with Cointelegraph’s Ezra Reguerra (right) in a panel discussion at the Wow Summit held in Atlantis, The Royal in Dubai. Source: Joeri Billast
The executive told Cointelegraph in an interview that the Indonesian government is working with various blockchain-focused associations to learn and conduct blockchain technology experiments to understand its implications in various sectors. “They want the regulation to stimulate innovation rather than just wanting to give it like a lot of rules,” he explained.
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Nugraha also revealed that the Indonesian government is planning to conduct trials on applying blockchain technology in public service use cases. According to the executive, the government will be testing the use of blockchain-based digital certificates for land ownership and certificates of competencies for the education sector.
The executive believes that with blockchain’s inherent features, implementing the technology on certificates can potentially combat certificate fraud and help the government verify the authenticity of various kinds of digital certificates using on-chain data.
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