Binance and MDI Ventures Form Consortium to Build Digital Asset Exchange Platform

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance forms a consortium through j with MDI Ventures to develop a digital asset exchange platform in Indonesia. This collaboration is part of Binance's broader strategy to build ecosystem blockchain in Indonesia.

In his official statement, Binance Founder & CEO Changpeng Zao revealed his ambition to drive ecosystem growth blockchain and cryptocurrencies (cryptocurrency) globaly.

"With the speed of technology adoption and strong economic potential, Indonesia can become one of the centers of the ecosystem blockchain and crypto that is leading the Southeast Asian region. With their deep experience in the market, we are confident that we can provide users with excellent products," said Zao.

Meanwhile, MDI Ventures CEO Donald Wihardja said, as Telkom's investment vehicle, his party wanted to participate in the journey of developing blockchain, crypto assets, cryptocurrencies and their derivative technologies. According to him, they will play an important role in finance and other digital infrastructure in the future.

"We look forward to growing with Binance and our investment partners, as well as bridging opportunities and technology with Telkom to help upgrade digital infrastructure capabilities in Indonesia," said Donald.

For your information, Binance is an infrastructure provider blockchain and cryptocurrency global offering a wide range of financial products, including volume-based digital asset exchange. Binance is on a mission to increase money freedom for users and showcase a portfolio of crypto products, including trading, finance, education, to investment.

Meanwhile, MDI Ventures is an investment vehicle with $830 million value owned by the largest telecommunications operator in Indonesia PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (IDX: TLKM), which is also a subsidiary of a state-owned enterprise. MDI invests in various startup business verticals, ranging from logistics, fintech, consumertech, to deep IT.

Collectively, this consortium has developed the largest digital and financial technology ecosystem in Indonesia, and has access to more than 170 million consumers in the world's fourth most populous country.

Corporate cooperation

It's interesting to see Binance's efforts to embrace Telkom through MDI Ventures. This is because Binance mostly cooperates with startups, either through acquisitions, partnerships, and investments, to operate. One of them is his investment in a crypto trading platform tokocrypto in 2020.

Meanwhile, Telkom is a large-scale corporate company that is also owned by the government. As of the first semester of 2021, Telkom has 8,3 million users broadband and 169,2 million subscribers mobile devices from its subsidiary Telkomsel. Apart from the telecommunications business, Telkom through MDI Ventures has funded more than 50 startups in 12 countries, of which 28 are from Indonesia.

Binance itself does not have a license to operate in any country. Several countries have issued warnings regarding Binance's actions, such as in the Netherlands and Malaysia. The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) had issued a warning letter to Binance regarding its illegal operations.

The Malaysian government has taken similar actions. Despite being added to the Investor Alert List in July 2020, Binance has been deemed to be operating illegally for operating crypto exchange.