Tokocrypto Plans Fundraising, Postpone Expansion of Non-Trading Crypto Products

Tokocrypto revealed that it is raising external funding, to strengthen the product trading crypto assets to make them more accessible to everyone. The company is looking for strategic investors with a strong retail ecosystem to collaborate with.

"The IPO is delayed and is not a priority now. What we are currently studying, we are open to external funding to seek potential partners who can give us value of ecosystems and product and B2B collaborations. The [fundraising] process has started," said Tokocrypto CEO Yudhono Rawis at a media gathering in Jakarta, yesterday (9/8).

For the record, at the end of last year Binance officially acquired Tokocrypto with almost 100% share ownership. For co-founder choose for exit and management replaced with new people. Binance first entered as a shareholder in Tokocrypto in 2020.

Another major impact of the acquisition, Tokocrypto reduced more than half of its employees to only 30% remaining. This condition is also supported by the current crypto market trend bullish until now.

"When we decided to restructure, we prioritized focusing on business exchange. The reason cost, moment market slow which we want to ensure in terms of cost it has to be efficient sustain, that's why the commission [as income] must be fixed sustain because it's important."

Yudho also confirmed that the company would no longer carry out layoffs in the future. The recruitment process is starting to be carried out, but it is more selective for certain positions only.

"Now Already in a good shape, when market it's getting better, we want it expand again, hiring tapi selectively, because of the crypto industry up and down so we have to responsible. Slowly build the foundation and be willing responsible future for the team member-his."

As a result, these various external factors made Tokocrypto refocus on business exchange (trading/buying and selling) crypto assets. Moreover, it is stated that currently the company occupies the position of exchange number one crypto in Indonesia based on market share as of June 2023, according to Coingeko and CoinMarketCap.

According to Yudho, there are still many opportunities to deepen the penetration of crypto assets. For example, API integration allows Tokocrypto investors to view their balances in other financial applications.

The impact of this shift in focus can be seen in the postponement of the company's product development outside trading, one of which is the NFT Marketplace Tokomall which was released in August 2021.

"We are still actively managing it user who still exist without carrying out activities marketing. Later when market and the settings are clearer, of course we want it reactivate Again. Now we postpone, want to focus on developing the business exchange."

Tokocrypto's achievements

It is stated that currently Tokocrypto has more than 3 million registered users with 400 thousand of them actively making transactions every month. It was recorded that the average trading transaction volume almost reached $300 million per month throughout the first semester of 2023 with an average daily transaction of $10 million.

It is claimed, Tokocrypto became exchange The largest crypto offering more than 350 tradable crypto assets. The application has been downloaded more than 4 million times since it was first launched.

It was explained that throughout the first five months of this year, the company had paid taxes to the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance amounting to IDR 42,4 billion. This is related to the imposition of tax on crypto asset transactions which must be paid at 0,11% for VAT on purchases of crypto assets and 0,1% for PPH on sales of crypto assets.

Regarding the demographics of Tokocrypto users, Tokocrypto CMO Wan Iqbal explained that the majority came from the age group 18-30 years (56,7%), 31-45 years (33,9%), 46-55 years (9,4%). They are spread throughout Indonesia, but the majority are in big cities, such as Jabodetabek, Java and Bali.

"This is both a challenge and an opportunity for us to continue introducing digital and crypto assets to other cities. In the period January to June 2023, we have reached more than 27.000 people in 22 cities in Indonesia," said Iqbal.

In improving user comfort and experience, there are a number of new features on the Tokocrypto platform, starting from Tax Proof, Profit and Loss, Easy Buy/Sell, services Customer Support 24/7 Live Chat, Price Alert and IDR launch. All of these features are expected to encourage users to mitigate potential risks and better profits.

To ensure security and transparency, Tokocrypto has also released an accurately audited Proof of Reserve (PoR). The company realizes the importance of user trust in facing a dynamic and fast-growing industry such as crypto assets. This way, users can ensure that their funds are kept intact 1:1 and can be verified.

Throughout this year, the company will strengthen its Earn & Staking and Local Token Listing products. Yudho explained that now his team is preparing whitepaper The latest for the company's token TKO which contains plans to increase its utility thanks to collaborating with the ecosystem.

Prospects for the crypto asset industry

At the same time, Yudho also shared a lot of his optimism for the crypto industry, marked by the presence of crypto asset exchanges in Indonesia and the prospects for the crypto market globally.

Regarding attendance crypto exchange, he feels this marks the standardization of security for crypto transactions to be equal. This of course makes security guarantees for consumers more secure. However, technically, considering that it is still new, everything is still in the preparation stage, including discussions regarding the amount of fees charged to consumers.

He only said that now Tokocrypto has registered as a member and that later there will be a letter of recommendation from Bappebti marking the company as an official member. "Maybe after that there will be integration into the system and so on, now the process is still under ongoing discussion."

He continued, "The stock exchange must ensure that it is brought value for consumers. Because our security standards are in exchange this is high, so now the standard is the same for the industry. "So this industry [prevents] FTX cases from happening in Indonesia."

Even though globally this industry is still bearish, Bitcoin Halving will occur in 2024 marking an important moment for crypto investors as Bitcoin price will appreciate after halving. Bitcoin Halving is an event once every four years, where the mining reward for one Bitcoin block will be halved every 210 thousand blocks until it reaches a maximum limit of 21 million.

Based on the latest data on May 11 2020, when the third Bitcoin Halving occurred, BTC prices rose 700% in all-time-high in 2021. As is known, Bitcoin has a limited number of 21 million, so the available supply of Bitcoin will decrease, which increases the value of Bitcoin that has not been mined. As a result, there will be an increase in Bitcoin volatility after the Halving, because the asset will become more attractive.

With the Bitcoin Halving taking place next year, it will be an interesting year for Bitcoin investors and miners, although this phenomenon tends to occur in the final quarter of 2023.

"By historical, about six months before the Halving the price will rise. Now the numbers are still flat In the last three months, hopes will continue to rise towards the Halving. "Moreover, the macro economy in the United States has also stopped increasing interest rates, this is a good signal for crypto."

Currently, there are 30 legal exchange which has obtained permission from CoFTRA. This large number of players indicates that Indonesia is a tempting market for the crypto asset industry. Even though in 2020, Indonesia only had 12 players.

Another indicator can also be seen from the growth in the number of investors, there were four crypto investors in 2020. A year later it grew almost 4 times to 11 million investors, and last year the figure reached 16,7 investors.

Even though the number of investors increased, there was a decrease in transactions, especially in 2022. The number of crypto asset transactions in Indonesia was IDR 64,9 trillion in 2020 and recorded at IDR 859,4 trillion in 2021. In 2022, the transaction value was recorded at IDR 306,4 trillion.

"So even though transactions are down, the number of investors continues to rise. This reflects the good market potential in Indonesia," concluded Yudho.