Ridwan Kamil, Governor of West Java Province, showed his partiality towards the digital asset Bitcoin (BTC). According to him, the technology carried by Bitcoin can help people who have been classified as unbankable, aka not having access to banking institutions.
That innovative outlook emerged during the Bitcoin 2023 event in Miami. In a panel with Samson Mow, who is the architect of the Bitcoin Bond (Bitcoin bonds) in El Salvador, Ridwan Kamil explained that Bitcoin technology can help people to get cheap and fast access to finance.
“Bitcoin is a solution for the unbankable. Around 40% of Indonesian people fall into this category and only by using the Bitcoin ecosystem, can they speed up transactions, generate lower fees and also transfer across borders more quickly," he explained.
The figure who is predicted to run for election in the 2024 election reveals that Bitcoin technology can also accelerate financial inclusion, as well as democratize the financial system.
However, it must be admitted, it takes time to prepare regulations that are truly capable of facilitating this. The balance between regulation, investor protection, risk management, and government control must be strong.
In his explanation, Ridwan took as an example the case of Uber's ride-hailing technology. At that time, the government needed about 4 years to be able to regulate this new technology. Therefore, according to him, something similar may happen to Bitcoin. Moreover, Indonesia is one of the countries with the fastest BTC adoption rate in the world.
