Buying IOST with rupiah: OJK-licensed exchanges, deposits and tax

The short answer

Yes, you can buy IOST legally in Indonesia, and you have three realistic routes. Bittime and Indodax both list IOST/IDR, so rupiah buys IOST in one trade. Tokocrypto lists IOST/USDT, so you swap rupiah for crypto first. The deepest rupiah market in our check was Bittime’s, not Indodax’s, which surprises many people because Indodax is the country’s best-known exchange.

The second thing to know is tax. Indonesia taxes every crypto sale at a small final rate on the transaction value, and the rate depends on where you trade. It is 0.21% on a domestic licensed platform and 1% on a foreign one. That gap, plus the legal protection of an OJK-supervised trader, is the main reason to keep your IOST trading at home. Below we cover the rules, the exchanges, rupiah deposits, a worked tax example and the scams to avoid.

From Bappebti to OJK: who regulates crypto

Indonesia treats crypto as a regulated financial asset, and the rulebook changed hands recently. Here is the split between law, regulator and practice.

The law

For years crypto was a commodity supervised by Bappebti, the Ministry of Trade’s futures regulator. The financial sector law (UU 4/2023, known as P2SK) and Government Regulation PP 49/2024 moved it to the Financial Services Authority, OJK, on 10 January 2025. The main rule is now POJK 27/2024. It reclassifies crypto as an aset keuangan digital (digital financial asset) and sets out who may trade it and how.

The regulator

OJK licenses the crypto traders that ordinary users deal with, called PAKD (Pedagang Aset Keuangan Digital). By September 2026 OJK counted 28 of them, up from 25 in January 2026, with PT Gudang Kripto Indonesia licensed on 22 September 2026 as the newest. Around them sit two crypto exchanges in the stock-exchange sense (CFX and ICEx), two clearing houses and two custodians. A government task force, Satgas PASTI, had shut 228 illegal crypto platforms by May 2026. OJK published a whitelist of licensed operators in December 2025, and that list is the one to check.

Exchange practice

Licensed traders verify you with a KTP and a selfie; foreign residents reportedly need a passport plus a KITAS or KITAP. They take rupiah through Indonesian banks and payment rails, withhold the final tax on each sale, and add a small bursa levy. They may only list assets that appear on an exchange’s tradable list, which brings us to IOST.

IOST on the official tradable asset list

Under POJK 27/2024, each bursa maintains the list of assets that licensed traders may offer. It replaces Bappebti’s old list of tradable crypto assets. IOST is on the CFX list as IOST-586, categorized as “Global” and “Utility”, effective 18 February 2024. The full CFX list holds about 1,300 assets, so being listed is a baseline, not an endorsement. The ICEx list we did not check.

Why should a buyer care? Because the list is what makes an IOST listing on a local exchange lawful. If a coin is not on a bursa list, licensed traders cannot sell it, and an app offering it to Indonesians is a warning sign. For IOST you can confirm the entry yourself on the CFX asset search. Note that the list covers the asset, not a specific network. After IOST 3.0 the token exists both on its own L1 chain and as a BEP-20 token on BNB Chain, and exchanges choose which they support.

1. 2022Bappebti-era taxPMK 68/2022 sets 0.1% final tax plus 0.11% VAT on sales via registered venues.
2. 18 Feb 2024IOST enters the CFX listAsset ID IOST-586, categories Global and Utility.
3. 11 Sep 2024Indodax hackAbout $22M drained from hot wallets; platform offline for days.
4. 10 Jan 2025OJK takes overSupervision moves from Bappebti under P2SK and POJK 27/2024.
5. 1 Aug 2025PMK 50/2025 in force0.21% domestic, 1% foreign, VAT on crypto removed.
6. 22 Sep 202628th licensed traderPT Gudang Kripto Indonesia joins the OJK list.

Which Indonesian exchanges list IOST

We checked each exchange’s own API where one exists and CoinGecko’s ticker data for the rest. The result is a short list with a big gap in depth.

In relative terms, Bittime’s IOST/IDR market traded roughly fifteen times as much as Indodax’s on the day of our snapshot, and Tokocrypto’s IOST/USDT book sat in between. None of the three comes close to the big global IOST/USDT markets. On a thin book a single large order can move the price noticeably, so check the depth before you click buy. Our exchange comparison shows how these markets stack up against Japan, Korea and Thailand.

Bittime

Bittime is the practical first stop for a rupiah buyer, simply because its IOST/IDR order book was the deepest local one. We have not reviewed it in full, so check its OJK status on the whitelist and its IOST deposit network before you send coins in.

Indodax

Indodax started in 2014 as Bitcoin.co.id, rebranded in 2018, and reportedly serves around 10 million customers. It is an OJK-licensed trader and a member of CFX. Its IOST/IDR pair, though, sees very little trading, and the September 2024 hack still weighs on its record. Our full Indodax review scores it on all of this.

Tokocrypto

Tokocrypto is owned by Binance and lists IOST only against USDT, with no IDR pair. It was reported to have moved to the ICEx group in 2026. It suits people who already hold crypto, or who want to receive crypto from elsewhere and swap it for IOST on a local, supervised venue.

A mobile-first market

Rupiah deposits: virtual accounts, QRIS and e-wallets

Indonesian exchanges do not ask you to wire money to a company account and hope it gets matched. Instead you get a virtual account number at a bank such as BCA, Mandiri, BRI, BNI, Permata or Sinarmas, and you pay into it from mobile banking. The deposit is credited to you automatically. An older Indodax guide says virtual-account deposits above Rp 500,000 are free and smaller ones cost Rp 2,000; treat that as a guide, not a current price list.

Many licensed traders also accept QRIS and e-wallets such as OVO, DANA and GoPay. These are convenient for small top-ups, but they can cost more. Kontan reported in November 2024 that Tokocrypto charged 2% on e-wallet deposits. For a Rp 1,000,000 top-up, 2% is Rp 20,000, more than many trading fees. So for anything larger than pocket money, a virtual-account transfer is usually the better rail.

How to buy IOST in Indonesia, step by step

First, pick the venue that matches your route: Bittime or Indodax for a direct IOST/IDR trade, Tokocrypto if you are happy to go through crypto. Verify your account with your KTP and a selfie, and confirm the company appears on OJK’s whitelist.

Second, top up rupiah through a virtual account, which is usually the cheapest method. Third, open the IOST market and place a limit order. On thin books a market order can fill far from the last price, and that slippage can cost more than the fee and tax combined. If you are using Tokocrypto, buy crypto with rupiah first and then IOST/USDT, remembering you pay a spread twice.

Finally, decide where IOST will live. Small amounts can sit on the exchange. For larger amounts, see our IOST wallet guide. When you withdraw to another exchange, the deposit needs a memo, and a missing memo can mean lost funds; our guide to sending IOST explains why. Also check that IOST withdrawals are open. Several exchanges paused IOST transfers for days around the v4.0.0 network upgrade in October 2026. If you want the general version of this process, read how to buy IOST.

Crypto tax under PMK 50/2025

Indonesia does not tax your crypto profit at year end the way many countries do. It applies a small final income tax (PPh Pasal 22) to the value of each sale or exchange, withheld by the platform. Since 1 August 2025, under PMK 50/2025, the rate is 0.21% on domestic licensed platforms and 1% on foreign ones. A foreign platform appointed by DJP collects the 1% itself; if it has not been appointed, the seller must pay it. VAT on the crypto itself was removed because crypto is now treated like securities. VAT still applies to the platform’s service fees, and exchanges add a small bursa levy on top.

A worked example shows the gap. If you sell IOST worth Rp 10,000,000 on a domestic licensed exchange, the final tax is Rp 21,000. Make the same sale on a foreign platform and it is Rp 100,000, almost five times as much. Because the tax is on the transaction value, it applies whether you sold at a profit or a loss. Sources describe the tax as covering exchanges as well as sales, so a crypto-to-crypto swap can count too. Ask your exchange how it applies the levy to crypto-to-crypto trades. This is general information, not tax advice; the DJP is the authority.

Foreign apps, P2P and CEX.IO

Global exchanges are easy to reach from Indonesia, and Binance’s P2P market had hundreds of rupiah ads for crypto using Indonesian banks in our check. Using them comes with trade-offs. Any crypto you sell or swap on a foreign platform falls under the 1% rate. You also lose the local supervision that comes with an OJK-licensed trader, so a dispute is handled under another country’s rules.

CEX.IO is one example of a foreign option. It has been running since 2013 and serves Indonesian users through CEX OVRS LLC in Nevis, which holds no Asian license, and it is not an OJK-licensed trader. It does not list IOST, has no Indonesian-language site, and offers no QRIS or e-wallets. It takes cards in USD, EUR or GBP, so a rupiah card is converted by your bank. Its realistic use is narrow: buying crypto by card, sending it to Tokocrypto or another exchange that lists IOST, and swapping there.

Prefer cards to bank transfers? Start with crypto

CEX.IO does not list IOST. You can buy crypto with a card there, send it to an exchange that lists IOST, and swap. Remember that sales on foreign platforms carry Indonesia’s 1% tax rate.

Power up with crypto

Check that the service is available in your country before signing up.

Safety, scams and the IOST airdrop

The Indodax hack on 11 September 2024 is the local reminder that exchange risk is real. Roughly $22 million left the exchange’s hot wallets, the platform went offline for days, and deposits and withdrawals reopened in stages. Indodax said customer funds were safe and that it covered the losses. The lesson is not to avoid local exchanges, but to keep only what you trade on any single exchange.

Thin book? Use a limit order!

Then there is the IOST 3.0 airdrop. Half of it was allocated to exchanges based on a 15 March 2025 snapshot, and exchanges in Japan, Korea and Thailand pay it out on fixed schedules. We found no public notice from an Indonesian exchange about passing it on, so do not assume your Indonesian balance qualified. Never trust a message offering to “release” it for a fee. Our airdrop guide explains the official claim routes, and is IOST safe? covers fake tokens and phishing.