Bitcoin Magazine
From 40 Meetups a Month to Nationwide Freedom: Bitcoin Indonesia’s Real-Life Comeback
Boasting 40 meetups a month and a broad estimated community of 55,000 bitcoiners, the Bitcoin Indonesia ecosystem might be one of the most active and successful Bitcoin adoption stories in the world today.
Indonesia is a nation made up of 17,000 islands with over 380 different tribes and cultures. The nation, located between Australia and China, has a population of over 280 million people, which has been ravaged by inflation and monetary repression, seeing the Ruphia collaps 61% since over the past 30 years versus the dollar. As a result, its population is keenly aware of the problems with fiat currency and often open to alternatives, fertile ground for Bitcoin adoption.
Today, the Bitcoin Indonesia circular economy has multiple ongoing education and adoption efforts across the country. According to Dimas, a former materials science engineer turned Bitcoin evangelist and one of the founders of Bitcoin Indonesia, there are roughly 55,000 people engaging with Bitcoin in one way or another through their efforts. The 40 meetups a month are hosted across 40 different cities throughout the country, with Fedi, Blink, and Wallet of Satoshi as popular wallets. Bitcoin Indonesia’s Fedimint Federation — a Bitcoin ecash payments infrastructure — is estimated to have between 10,000 and 20,000 members, though specific numbers are not available given ecash’s strong privacy properties.
They have over 3,600 members in Telegram, over 27,000 on Instagram, and over 10,000 on TikTok, social platforms through which they distribute Bitcoin education content in a mix of Bahasa Indonesia and English to the local population. They are also one of the biggest My First Bitcoin nodes, having graduated 500 students by 2025 of the Bitcoin certification and education program originally born in El Salvador. They aim to double the number of graduates by the end of 2026.
We visited 700 middle school students at Taruna Bakti Foundation in Bandung, Indonesia to teach them about Bitcoin. DM us if you’re interested in organizing it at your school/university. See you! #bitcoin #bitcoinadoption #bitcoinforindonesia #indonesia pic.twitter.com/ecvGXqeNUu— Bitcoin Indonesia (@bitcoinindo21) November 19, 2024
Surviving a Government Ban
While Bitcoin Indonesia’s success is impressive, it is not the first time Bitcoin adoption has swelled in the country. Back in 2014, there was a Bitcoin adoption initiative that got some international attention called the Bitcoin island, which focused primarily on the beautiful tourist island of Bali. The initiative saw as few as 42 merchants accepting bitcoin up to ‘hundreads’ according to Dimas, including the purchase of a high-profile luxury villa with bitcoin, worth $500,000 at the time or 800 BTC.
The momentum and adoption must have been strong because the Indonesian government responded t
