## BALI’S CRYPTO SUMMER ENDS

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### Crypto boom in Bali
- Energetic blockchain and crypto ideas emerged quickly around Canggu, Seminyak, and other districts in Bali as pandemic restrictions eased halfway through 2022.
- Bali attracted cryptocurrency speculators and remote workers with high-end amenities at far lower cost than in San Francisco or Singapore.
- Example ventures mentioned:
  - A Singapore-based finance firm launched an ESG “legacy token” tied to concession rights to an estimated 150,000 troy ounces of gold beneath a forest in Ontario, Canada, proposed as a mechanism to leave the gold unmined.

### Community and coworking scene
- T-Hub, a coworking space operated by Tokocrypto (an Indonesian affiliate of Binance), became a focal point for blockchain professionals and community events.
- Tokocrypto claims to have tens of thousands of registered users in Bali, an order of magnitude increase over just one year.
- Networking and meetups included presentations on minting, staking, royalty fees for NFTs, and trading strategies; cultural markers included shirts with slogans such as “Just HODL It.”

### Market downturn and crypto winter
- Few participants appeared to have priced in the emergence of a crypto winter:
  - Bitcoin fell from an all-time-high above $68,000 in November 2021 to below $20,000 in June.
  - NFT transactions soared to about $17 billion in 2021.
  - Sales of digital art, music, and other NFTs crashed by about 92 percent from January to May 2022, according to NonFungible.
- The downturn coincided with some exchanges pausing withdrawals and collapses in alternative assets.

### Tourism, labor shifts, and digital nomads
- Bali’s tourism sector suffered a devastating two-year blackout during the pandemic, with tens of thousands of tourism workers having hours cut or losing jobs entirely.
- Airport arrivals:
  - In April 2019 almost half a million people arrived at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International airport.
  - In April of the pandemic recovery year noted, the total was barely one-tenth that (although there were signs of a stronger recovery in May and June).
- The pandemic and remote-work trends drew young professionals and nomadic workers to Bali, though paperwork and visa processes have curbed some longer stays.
- Regional visa developments referenced:
  - In 2021, Thailand announced it would issue 10-year work permits to foreign nationals earning more than $80,000 a year.
  - Indonesia’s tourism minister, Sandiaga Uno, unveiled plans for a five-year visa for Bali targeting the rise in remote workers.

### Regulation, scams, and cautionary tales
- Tales of scams are common among Bali’s crypto traders; regulators have increased focus on restricting the influence of advertising and irresponsible social media influencers.
- Oversight and market metrics:
  - The Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (part of Indonesia’s trade ministry) assumed oversight of cryptocurrencies in 2018 and currently permits trading in 229 assets.
  - Cryptocurrency transaction volume in Indonesia grew from Rp 64.9 trillion in 2020 to Rp 859.4 trillion in 2021, according to the agency head at a parliamentary hearing in March.
  - By February (year as in source), the number of participants transacting in cryptocurrencies in Indonesia had more than doubled, to 12.4 million, compared with just 10 months earlier.

### Observations on motivations and technology uptake
- Many community members in Bali’s cryptocurrency scene were described as speculating on rising prices, with only a fraction working on technology use cases intended to cut costs in areas such as agriculture and migrant worker remittances.
- Participant perspectives cited:
  - “You can have the quality of life in Bali while earning the salary of a Western country.” — Paul, 19, self-taught developer.
  - “There are people who are not in the mood to talk about crypto... But there have been winters in the past.” — Antria Pansy, community engagement for Tokocrypto in Bali.
  - “You can make a lot of money... If you are lucky.” — Aaron Penalba, NFT trader.

*Source: Finance & Development, September 2022 — "Bali’s Crypto Summer Ends" by Harry Jacques.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2022/september/digital-journey-bali.pdf_