Indonesian tech company GoTo buys local crypto exchange for $8.4 million

JAKARTA, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s biggest tech company PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo) has entered the cryptocurrency business by acquiring local crypto exchange PT Kripto Maksima Koin in a bid to diversify its services, GoTo said in a statement.

GoTo has acquired 100% of the shares of PT Kripto Maksima Koin for 124.84 billion rupees ($8.38 million), it said in a statement to the stock exchange regulator on Monday.

The technology company, which raised $1.1 billion in an IPO earlier this year, said in a statement to Reuters that the deal was part of its goal to become “a center for managing diversified fund”. Read more

“We believe blockchain technology can play a major role in the future of finance,” GoTo said in the statement late Monday.

The tech company, however, did not disclose any further plans for the newly acquired entity.

PT Kripto Maksima Koin is among 25 crypto exchanges that have obtained licenses from Indonesia’s commodity futures trading regulatory agency, known as Bappebti.

The cryptocurrency has gained popularity in Southeast Asia’s largest economy with total trading volume of crypto assets in 2021 up more than 1000% to 859.4 trillion rupees (57.70 billion dollars) from a year earlier, according to agency data.

($1 = 14,895.0000 rupees)

Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman Editing by Tomasz Janowski

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