Indonesia hosts lawyers to train on cryptocurrency

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While many countries around the globe are actively embracing cryptocurrencies, that doesn’t mean all of them are doing so. In fact, there are eight countries that have banned the sale and ownership of these digital assets in some form, and one of those countries, Indonesia, will be hosting a gathering of lawyers from the other seven for a seminar specifically dedicated to cryptocurrencies.

The seminar is in direct response to an increase in illegal activity across the globe related to the use of these digital assets. Whether it is fraud, money laundering, or assistance in criminal ventures, BTC, and other digital currencies are quickly becoming a great source of revenue to use to hide these transactions from law enforcement officials.

Indonesia is one country that has banned all digital currencies. They recognized the growing number of crimes related to crypto assets, and have sought to work with other countries to fight this kind of activity.

As Dr. Arminsyah, the Deputy Attorney General puts it:

The development of technology and cryptocurrency crime that follows it will always grow without slowing down, let alone waiting for us to catch up, it will instead continue to go so fast, leaving behind anyone who’s too late to anticipate and adopt it. Cross-country cryptocurrency crime must be seen as a common enemy, therefore it cannot be addressed or faced partially by each country but must be prevented, fought, and eradicated holistically and together.

As part of the training, the eight countries will discuss what steps to take to fight these kinds of crimes. Included at the event will be Turkey, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, and Hong Kong. While all of these other nations don’t have as strict of an enforcement on their bans as Indonesia does, they all restrict these currencies in some form.

Dr. Arminsyah explained that he hoped that this training will help prosecutors and other law enforcement officials to recognize illegal activities using these currencies, so they can be shut down immediately.

“I hope that the coordination established by the trainees is not merely formal… but also through informal cooperation, prosecutors to prosecutors, police to prosecutors, and customs to prosecutors helping each other in the form of information delivery, data, advice, and the provision of facilities when they need each other.”