Reuters reports that Indonesia’s largest technology company, GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo), has acquired local exchange PT Kripto Maksima Koin and thereby joined the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry.
The company GoTo paid $8.38 million (or 124.84 billion rupiah) to purchase all of the shares in the stock exchange. According to reports, the internet company’s declared goal with the acquisition was to establish themselves as “a diverse money management hub.”
According to the report, GoTo stated, “We believe that blockchain technology may play a widespread role in the future of finance.”
After generating $1.1 billion in an initial public offering (IPO), GoTo now has a market valuation of almost $25 billion, but the company has not yet revealed its plans for the acquired exchange.
PT is one of only twenty-five organizations in Indonesia authorized to deal in commodity futures by Bappebti, the country’s governing body for the industry. Earlier this month, however, the regulatory authorities put a hold on any new licences, saying they were doing so in the interest of facilitating “transparent, efficient, and successful trading activity.”
New crypto-assets that had not been approved by the local Financial Services Authority were also prohibited from “marketing, promoting, and advertising” by Bappebti.
In the largest commercial transaction in Indonesian history, valued at over $18 billion, the ride-hailing company Gojek merged with the local e-commerce player Tokopedia to form the new company GoTo. Since then, GoTo is expected to contribute between 5 and 10 percent of Indonesia’s GDP, which stands at $1 trillion.
