Binance Acquires Indonesia's Tokocrypto Exchange, Expands Asia Presence

Binance is taking advantage of the ongoing plunge in the crypto market in a bit to boost its presence in international markets. As part of its Asia expansion plan, the crypto exchange has completed the purchase of Indonesia's Tokocrypto exchange at an undisclosed amount. Under its CEO Changpeng Zhao, Binance had started pouring investments in Tokocrypto two years ago in 2020 and this week, it became the largest shareholder in the Indonesian crypto exchange. With this acquisition, Binance will be able to operate in Indonesia legally.

Founded in September 2018 and headquartered in Jakarta, Tokocrypto already has the necessary approvals from Indonesia's Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI).

“We decided that the best step for Tokocrypto going forward is to leverage Binance's capabilities to build a further physical trading platform for crypto assets,” a CNBC report quoted Pang Xue Kai, the founder and former CEO of the Indonesian exchange as saying.

Binance has reportedly appointed Yudhono Rawis as the interim CEO of Tokocrypto, while retaining Kai as part of its board of directors. Amid the transition, Tokocrypto has slashed an unknown percentage of its staff, as per the report.

Indonesia is witnessing a boom in crypto activity. A survey by The Jakarta Post recently said that 41 percent of Indonesians own crypto assets.

Back in July, Mastercard made a splash in Indonesia's crypto market by inking a partnership with crypto gateway provider called Fasset. The aim of this partnership is to co-develop digital solutions and escalate crypto adoption in Indonesia to lower the barriers to digital finance and drive greater opportunities to benefit from the use of emerging financial services.

Meanwhile, in a September report, Chainalysis said that the combined region of Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) emerged as the third largest cryptocurrency market this year.

Residents of these nations generated $932 billion (roughly Rs. 75,09,170 crore) in cryptocurrency value from July 2021 to June 2022.

At the time, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh each were found to have contributed by over $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,61,161 crore) remittance markets via crypto transactions.

Binance operates in India and Pakistan. The exchange has also made a mark in Kazakhstan's crypto sector in August this year, by scoring an in-principle approval to provide its crypto-centric services there.

The exchange has an even deeper relation to the Asian continent. In 2017, Binance launched with its head office in China. Later, when China began tightening noose around crypto activities, the company moved its headquarter to the Cayman Islands.

The exchange aims to become the world's most licenced crypto firm that already has approvals in Abu Dhabi and Puerto Rico among other regions.

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