Binance reportedly in talks to launch crypto exchange in Indonesia

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is reportedly in talks with Indonesia’s richest family, the Hartonos, to open a crypto exchange. 

As per a report published in Bloomberg, Binance Holdings Ltd. is looking to finalize a crypto venture with Hartonos-controlled PT Bank Central Asia (BCA), which is owned by billionaire siblings Budi and Michael Hartonos, and Indonesia’s largest state-owned telecom firm PT Telkom Indonesia. 

The report also claimed that the BCA may enter into the partnership using a separate business entity and the terms of the partnership could vary at the time of finalization. If finalized, it would be the second crypto venture for Binance in Indonesia. The first came in the form of a partnership with crypto trading platform Tokocrypto.

A new crypto venture involving the country’s richest family and the largest telecom firm would give Binance a strong foothold in the country, which has positive crypto regulations. The Indonesian government treats the crypto market as an investment class and allows its trading alongside commodity futures.

BCA didn’t immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s requests for comments. Binance declined to comment.

Related: Binance plans to become registered UK firm despite regulatory setbacks

After facing major regulatory challenges in the second and third quarters of 2021, Binance is now looking to expand its footprint in the Asia Pacific region. The Singapore arm of the crypto trading giant recently acquired an 18% stake in a local private securities exchange, Hg Exchange. The crypto exchange giant led another $1.5 million funding round for an Asian tokenized messaging platform, the BBS Network.

Apart from new acquisitions and fundings, Binance’s sister company in the United States, Binance.US, is reportedly in the final stages of closing a multi-million funding round. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the global exchange, had revealed in November this year that the firm is expected to raise “a couple hundred million.”