Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, officially became a member of BRICS in 2025. The announcement made by President Lula marks one of the first actions of the Brazilian presidency.
The accession was approved at the Johannesburg Summit in August 2023 and formalized after the conclusion of the Indonesian presidential elections in 2024, when the new government confirmed its interest.
Indonesia seeks to strengthen the Global South in BRICS
The Brazilian government announced the news, highlighting, above all, Indonesia's alignment with the BRICS objectives, including the reform of global governance institutions and the strengthening of cooperation in the Global South. These issues are priorities for the Brazilian presidency, whose motto is “Strengthening Cooperation in the Global South for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance”.
With the entry of Indonesia, BRICS now has 11 member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia.
In a note released by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government welcomed the country to the group, highlighting Indonesia as “the largest economy in Southeast Asia”, as well as its alignment with the BRICS objectives.
Indonesia pro crypto
As of November 2023, the cryptocurrency market in Indonesia was worth 17.1 trillion Indonesian rupiah (equivalent to over US$1 billion), with 18.25 million registered users. The data comes from the Indonesian Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti).
The country launched its first state-backed cryptocurrency exchange in July 2023. In the same year, it ranked 7th in the Cryptocurrency Adoption Index among 146 nations. The information is from Statista. The success is due to the mobile-first strategy, with smartphone penetration close to 91% in 2024, and the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies as a source of income, driven by positive global trends.
Southwest Asian country advances in DeFi
Despite this, the market faces challenges, such as novice investors being vulnerable to scams. In March 2023, a scandal involving an app affected hundreds of thousands of retail investors. To combat these issues, Bank Indonesia is discussing cybersecurity and financial literacy issues to protect consumers.
According to Statista, Indonesia has surpassed most other countries in terms of retail service value to centralized and decentralized finance (DeFi) value.
Indonesia considers cutting crypto tax burden in half
Since 2024, Bappebti has been considering reducing the tax burden on cryptocurrencies by half. The idea is to stimulate the market, which is currently subject to value-added and income tax.
This year, oversight of cryptocurrencies will be handed over to the OJK, the country’s financial services regulator. This mainly indicates a possible expansion of the market given the increase in transactions and adoption in recent years. Meanwhile, here in Brazil, the tax authorities and the government are looking to create more and more ways to tax the crypto industry.
BRICS and CBDC
Another relevant topic on the group’s digital economic agenda is the development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for the group to transact in. Although Brazil is at the forefront of developing the Drex platform, Russia recently proposed the group’s digital currency to replace the dollar.
There is much controversy surrounding this desire to create an exclusive CBDC to be transacted between member countries. The issues involve security, privacy and the use of solutions such as the mBridge cross-border CBDC system. This is because the technology uses blockchain so that retail banks can make payments with CBDCs.
Trump threatens BRICS CBDC with tariffs
Another threat to the creation of the BRICS CBDC came from the northern hemisphere. This is because the president-elect of the United States (US), Donald Trump, said that any action in this direction will bring severe consequences. According to the Republican, the US could create a 100% tariff on imports of products from all member countries. In practice, this also means the impossibility of accessing the largest economy on the planet.
The idea that BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we watch is UNACCEPTABLE. We demand a commitment from these countries that they will not create a new BRICS currency, nor support any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling out to the wonderful US economy, Trump said.
The article Brazil announces Indonesia’s entry into BRICS was first seen on BeInCrypto Brazil.