Cryptocurrency exchange startup Bitcoin.co.id announces unspecified amount of funding from East Ventures. This funding is said will be used in continuing education for Indonesia’s market and exploring opportunities to expand in Southeast Asia.

Bitcoin.co.id, founded by Oscar Darmawan and William Sutanto in 2013, is initially setup as Indonesian version of bitcoin community. Later it transformed into exchange since 2014. They claim to be the biggest bitcoin exchange in Southeast Asia. Beside providing bitcoin transaction, Bitcoin.co.id is expanding its business in various popular cryptocurrency, such as: Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin.

Oscar Darmawan, Bitcoin.co.id’s CEO, said in the release, “I see the beginning of blockchain technology era, as bitcoin and ethereum is just started, there is still much potential. [..] I believe blockchain public technology is an answer to help financial inclusion getting more access.”

“Bitcoin.co.id will continue to educate and to work on Indonesian market and start our expansion to various countries in Southeast Asia,” he added.

There is only few players in this sector, one of them is Luno. Originally based on Singapore, Luno is now going global, but Southeast Asia region is still its priority.

Commented to this funding, Willson Cuaca, East Venture’s Managing Partner, said, “Oscar and team convince us with capacity to build product and market. We believe blockchain can overcome such problems in Indonesia, change business methods, reduce cost, maintain integrity, accelerate verification, and reduce single-point-of-failure with decentralization.”

“We’re hoping to innovate and invest more in this [blockchain] technology and paying attention on how blockchain changes our lives,” Cuaca said.

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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian