The Dynamics of ASEAN Policies on Cryptocurrency: A Case Study of 2018–2023

Faryq Luthfin Akbar; Fitriah Islamiah Askhari

doi:10.70716/ecoma.v4i3.560

Authors

Faryq Luthfin Akbar International Relations Study Program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
Fitriah Islamiah Askhari International Relations Study Program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70716/ecoma.v4i3.560

Keywords:

ASEAN Cryptocurrency, Digital Financial Governance, Policy Harmonization, Regime Theory

Abstract

Cryptocurrency has become central to the transformation of global financial governance, as digital assets grow increasingly integrated into cross-border financial systems. In Southeast Asia, rapid cryptocurrency adoption since 2018 has posed new challenges for ASEAN in maintaining financial stability, consumer protection, and regional market integrity, prompting a shift from fragmented national regulations toward greater regional policy coordination. This study explains why ASEAN shifted its cryptocurrency regulatory policies between 2018 and 2023. Using a qualitative research design with a deductive approach, the study analyzes primary data from ASEAN policy documents-including the ASEAN Digital Financial Integration Framework, the ASEAN Blockchain Roadmap, and ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting reports -complemented by international reports and academic literature, interpreted through Regime Theory's components of principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures. Findings indicate the policy shift was driven by internal pressures, including rising systemic risk, regulatory fragmentation, and uneven national regulatory capacity, as well as external pressures from evolving global standards, particularly the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). ASEAN responded by gradually institutionalizing a coordinated regional governance framework through consensus-based mechanisms and regulatory harmonization. The study's novelty lies in extending Regime Theory to regional cryptocurrency governance, showing how a Global South regional organization develops digital financial governance amid domestic constraints and external regulatory pressures.

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