<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrency investments in Indonesia have seen considerable growth between 2020-2022, with 4% of the country\u2019s population having invested in crypto.<\/p>\n
In 2021, crypto transaction volumes surpassed $34 billion, according to Indonesia\u2019s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency.<\/p>\n
This growth has formed a new mindset toward crypto investment, especially in the mainstream media. One example of cryptocurrencies\u2019 growing appeal in the mainstream is the participation of Indonesian celebrities and influencers.<\/p>\n
Celebrities and influencers in Indonesia seem to have become much more involved in Indonesia\u2019s crypto investment industry since 2021.<\/p>\n
Many have become brand ambassadors for exchanges and crypto projects to help promote them and essentially raise the trading volume.<\/p>\n
The participation of individuals such as Joe Taslim, an Indonesian actor that has gone global, and Indonesian models and actresses Jessica Iskandar and Shandy Aulia might not be surprising, considering celebrities\u2019 inescapable presence in advertising and branding.<\/p>\n
Some celebrities have even created their own cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n
The trend of celebrity tokens has boomed, especially after one of the most prominent musicians in Indonesia, Anang Hermansyah, created his own token.<\/p>\n
Three tokens have gone viral in Indonesia as of February 2022: VCG (VCG), Asix (ASIX) and I-Coin (ICN).<\/p>\n
Asix is led by Anang Hermansyah, a prominent figure in Indonesia\u2019s music industry.<\/p>\n
VCG went viral thanks to a partnership with RANS Entertainment. This company is owned by Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina, a married couple who are prominent movie stars and business figures in Indonesia and were recently nominated as the Sultans of Contents by Forbes Indonesia.<\/p>\n
I-Coin was created by Wirda Mansur, a public figure and daughter of a renowned Indonesian Islamic cleric.<\/p>\n
The name of celebrities supporting them and their marketing team has made their token viral and gotten a lot of fear of missing out, or FOMO, from Indonesia\u2019s newbie investors.<\/p>\n
But, long before these, the trend started with an influencer named Indra Kenz, who created his own token with his team named Botxcoin (BOTX).<\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>Indonesia\u2019s crypto industry in 2021: A kaleidoscope<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n BOTX, an Ethereum-based project that plans to be a decentralized social trading platform, launched in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n BOTX is the first celebrity token in Indonesia and its goal is to become the first decentralized copy trading platform for crypto in Indonesia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following its launch, influencers seemed to pay more attention to the growing blockchain and crypto trend. The trend led to an array of influencers talking about cryptocurrency on their own social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n When this happened, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) also became very popular in Indonesia, especially when the Indonesian NFT collection dubbed \u201cGhozali Everyday\u201d became globally known for its uniqueness.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because of the booming crypto and NFT trends, influencers and celebrities have started creating their own NFT and cryptocurrency projects.<\/p>\n One Indonesian celebrity who created their own NFT Projects and went viral globally was Syahrini, an Indonesian singer and socialite.<\/p>\n Under the pseudonym Princess Syahrini, she created an NFT collection and sold them on Binance\u2019s NFT marketplace. It was reported that her \u201cSyahrini\u2019s Metaverse Tour\u201d NFT collection sold out after just eight hours of being listed.<\/p>\n Another prominent figure in Indonesia\u2019s entertainment industry that created their own NFT project was actress, model and singer Luna Maya.<\/p>\n She launched her collection consisting of just 10 NFTs with Tokau, a Japan-based art company that has NFT creation experience.<\/p>\n Her collection was sold<\/a> on the BakerySwap NFT Marketplace and caught<\/a> a lot of attention, including from Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance.<\/p>\n The trend continued with more celebrities in Indonesia exploring, promoting and creating their own NFT projects.<\/p>\n One example of recent Indonesian influencers and celebrities promoting NFT projects was actor Brandon Salim, renowned Indonesian chef Arnold Poernomo and influencer known as Jejouw.<\/p>\n They promoted one of the most successful NFT projects in Indonesia that went global, \u201cKarafuru,\u201d which has a current trading volume of 37,200 Ether (ETH). <\/p>\n With the runaway hype of celebrities creating their own NFT and crypto projects, regulators are stepping in to protect investors.<\/p>\n The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, also known as BAPPEBTI, is currently giving warnings to celebrities to get their projects approved in the Indonesia legal crypto list before promoting them.<\/p>\n BAPPEBTI, which is responsible for regulating crypto in Indonesia, warns that there are only 229 cryptocurrencies that are legal to trade and transact in Indonesia.<\/p>\nCelebrity NFT projects<\/h2>\n
Government response<\/h2>\n