Boasting 40 meetups a month and a broad estimated group of 55,000 bitcoiners, the Bitcoin Indonesia ecosystem could be one of the lively and profitable Bitcoin adoption tales on the planet at the moment.
Indonesia is a nation made up of 17,000 islands with over 380 totally different tribes and cultures. The nation, situated between Australia and China, has a inhabitants of over 280 million individuals, which has been ravaged by inflation and financial repression, seeing the Rupiah collaps 61% since over the previous 30 years versus the greenback. In consequence, its inhabitants is keenly conscious of the issues with fiat foreign money and infrequently open to alternate options, fertile floor for Bitcoin adoption.
At this time, the Bitcoin Indonesia round economic system has a number of ongoing training and adoption efforts throughout the nation. In line with Dimas, a former supplies science engineer turned Bitcoin evangelist and one of many founders of Bitcoin Indonesia, there are roughly 55,000 individuals participating with Bitcoin in a technique or one other by their efforts. The 40 meetups a month are hosted throughout 40 totally different cities all through the nation, with Fedi, Blink, and Pockets of Satoshi as well-liked wallets. Bitcoin Indonesia’s Fedimint Federation — a Bitcoin ecash funds infrastructure — is estimated to have between 10,000 and 20,000 members, although particular numbers should not obtainable given ecash’s sturdy privateness properties.
They’ve over 3,600 members in Telegram, over 27,000 on Instagram, and over 10,000 on TikTok, social platforms by which they distribute Bitcoin training content material in a mixture of Bahasa Indonesia and English to the native inhabitants. They’re additionally one of many largest My First Bitcoin nodes, having graduated 500 college students by 2025 of the Bitcoin certification and training program initially born in El Salvador. They goal to double the variety of graduates by the top of 2026.
Surviving a Authorities Ban
Whereas Bitcoin Indonesia’s success is spectacular, it isn’t the primary time Bitcoin adoption has swelled within the nation. Again in 2014, there was a Bitcoin adoption initiative that received some worldwide consideration known as the Bitcoin island, which targeted totally on the gorgeous vacationer island of Bali. The initiative noticed as few as 42 retailers accepting bitcoin as much as ‘hundreads’ in keeping with Dimas, together with the acquisition of a high-profile luxurious villa with bitcoin, price $500,000 on the time or 800 BTC.
The momentum and adoption will need to have been sturdy as a result of the Indonesian authorities responded to it, however not effectively. In 2017, the federal government unleashed a crackdown on various currencies within the nation by the Financial institution of Indonesia, which issued a Regulation banning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as cost devices, efficient January 2018. It didn’t simply goal cryptocurrencies but additionally overseas fiat currencies just like the greenback or euros for funds. The BI cited dangers to monetary stability, cash laundering, and volatility, guaranteeing in flip the continued impoverishment of its inhabitants beneath a collapsing Ruphia. The crackdown was no paper tiger both; companies promoting various currencies like Bitcoin noticed undercover probes result in store closures beneath the specter of arrest and even jail time for operators.
The crackdown coincided with the 2017 bitcoin bull market as effectively, which noticed on-chain charges go as excessive as $50 {dollars}, an financial occasion in Bitcoin which shook the trade and led to the event of the Lightning Community, designed for high-speed, low-cost funds and which is used at the moment all through Bitcoin Round Economies. In consequence, nevertheless, adoption quieted down for years on this asian nation of islands, till after COVID hit, when the founders of the Bitcoin Indonesia group considered a brand new approach to spur bitcoin adoption within the nation.
Motivated by the post-COVID political and financial disaster, in addition to the meteoric rise of bitcoin from a low of $4,000 to as excessive as $70,000, a small group of Indonesian Bitcoiners kickstarted the native Bitcoin group once more, utilizing a brand new authorized technique that had protected bank cards and airmiles rewards applications from the 2018 authorized restrictions. Seems in case your cost system is a “closed loop” then you aren’t a ‘currency’. Bitcoin possession was nonetheless authorized as a retailer of worth; it was solely the medium of alternate utilization that was restricted. But when as a substitute of shopping for one thing with bitcoin you might be redeeming bitcoin for a services or products, then it’s, legally talking, a good sport. This loophole, which protects the native banks and different main legacy monetary gamers, additionally gave cowl to Bitcoin.
Right here’s Fedi got here in to offer infrastructure, resulting in an actively used Bitcoin ecash mint, estimated to have 10,000 to twenty,000 members. In Bitcoin Indonesia, individuals don’t spend bitcoin; they redeem it in shops which might be members of the community, preserving the usage of bitcoin legally compliant with the native legal guidelines, whereas unlocking service provider adoption.
With the authorized technique sorted out, it was a matter of reactivating the community of Bitcoin OGs within the nation, many doubtless created in that 2014 period of “The Bitcoin Island” in Bali. One second specifically stood out to Dimas, trying again on the bootstrap part of the group. He reached out to a neighborhood “Bitcoin whale” and talked about he needed to start out a neighborhood My First Bitcoin node. Quickly sufficient, the whale received again to him and supplied a business location at a close-by mall to host the occasions; “owned by a son-in-law,” he mentioned, “you can use it for free”. Shocked, Dimas requested, “Does he own the store or something?” The whale mentioned, “No, he owns the mall”. An instance, Dimas says that “anything can happen in Bitcoin”. This identical initiative ultimately led to the five hundred college students graduating from the My First Bitcoin program in 2025.
Pillars of a Profitable Bitcoin Meetup
Leveraging his expertise within the broader crypto trade, internet hosting training occasions for exchanges like Tokocrypto in 2021, Dimas and the area people additionally began internet hosting Bitcoin meetups. In contrast to a lot of the competitors within the nation on the time, these instructional occasions had been free reasonably than costing attendees lots of of {dollars} to entry. Ultimately, Bitcoin Indonesia developed a template for creating profitable Bitcoin meetups, which they revealed as a information on GitHub totally free.
The principle pillars of a profitable meetup, in keeping with Dimas and the Bitcoin Indonesia group, are:
- Be a real Bitcoiner with stable information.
“First, you have to be a Bitcoiner. You have to know enough about Bitcoin.” Dimas defined. The chief will need to have an actual understanding to coach and encourage others authentically.
- Be prepared to change into a long-term group chief.
“Second, you are willing to become a leader, which means that you should be able to expand. Manage your community, and make it bigger. You don’t just run meet up and that’s it. You have to become like a role figure in your area.”
Success requires ongoing dedication past one occasion. It means being publicly seen, constructing, rising, and proudly owning the native Bitcoin presence.
- Present free branding and supplies (with reimbursement).
“We provide the leaders with the flag, with the books, flyers, stickers, banners, and everything. So they print it themselves, and then we just reimburse them.”Advertising and infrastructure assist, like flags, books, flyers, and so forth, make the occasion look skilled and constant, whereas reimbursement retains the chief motivated. Ultimately, donations can assist rising meetups.
- Maintain it fully free for attendees.
“Our brand is free, free meetup, free education.”Charging for training, like competing crypto academies that cost $1,000–$2,000, creates expectations of fast returns and infrequently results in disappointment or scams. Free entry builds belief and speedy progress.
- Give attention to Bitcoin and monetary literacy.
“We try to teach that Bitcoin is a tool that can literally empower you. That’s Bitcoin for everyone. First, what is money? And then what is the history of the Indonesian Rupiah? Why are you feeling so poor? And how Bitcoin can be one of the tools that can help people to achieve true financial freedom.”By instructing individuals monetary literacy, they change into inoculated towards Ponzi schemes and different crypto scams, which have ravaged the nation and seeded broad skepticism within the public in direction of this trade. Educating individuals concerning the historical past of cash and particularly their native foreign money helps them perceive why Bitcoin might help them rise and break the cycle of fiat collapse.
The Bitcoin Indonesia round economic system has been supported by HRF, OpenSats, Block.xyz, and Mike Peterson of Bitcoin Seashore fame.
