Indonesians can now buy Bitcoin at over 10,000 Indomaret stores in the country. With a population of 238 million and with more than 200 million unbanked, Indonesia could see a steady uptick in Bitcoin adoption as consumers bypass the banks and other financial institutions.
The system works through a “top-up” mechanism, popular in several developing countries. Users will need to create an account with Bitcoin.co.id and then select the Top-up via Indomaret option. They will then be given a unique code that identifies their account. The users then take this code to an Indomaret store and deposit cash. This is automatically converted into Bitcoin in their account. The workflow is similar to a bill-pay mechanism that is already employed at Indomaret stores. Indonesians already use Indomaret stores extensively to pay bills, so this shouldn’t be too much harder for them to use. There is currently no offline way to purchase Bitcoin through the Indomaret stores, however, since the users will need to log into their accounts and get a code. This is therefore different from other options like scratch cards, which just need a unique code that can be redeemed at any point when the person has access to the internet.