Disruption caused by the government’s recent blocking of PayPal highlights the significance of international payment gateways for Indonesian businesses and consumers amid limited options for cross-border transfers.

Consumers worry about inflation and fear potential recession, causing them to halt their spending on new gadgets.  

The Indonesian government had blocked PayPal's website on Saturday because of its failure to comply to licensing rules, but access to the website was temporarily opened starting Sunday to allow customers to transfer funds.

As Southeast Asian fintechs expand across borders to tap into the region's enormous growth potential, an industry insider has cautioned that “the grass is almost never greener on the other side”.

The latest buzz in Traveloka's IPO plans is that the homegrown travel and lifestyle start-up has reportedly secured a multimillion-dollar deal with Thailand's state-owned energy and retail giant.

Bukalapak announced on Monday that it had achieved a net profit of Rp 8.5 trillion in the first half of 2022, thanks to its investment in Allo Bank.

Those charged included the four founders of the scheme named Forsage. They were last known to be living in Russia, the Republic of Georgia, and Indonesia, the SEC said in a statement.

The Communication and Information Technology Ministry on Saturday blocked PayPal, search engine website Yahoo, and several gaming services due to failures to meet a deadline under licensing rules.

Singapore-based Zipmex resumed withdrawals last week, a day after suspending them on July 20, and said it was working to address its exposure of $53 million to crypto lenders Babel Finance and Celsius.

A Singapore-based property technology (proptech) start-up, 99 Group, has secured US$52 million of Series C funding and plans to use the fresh funds to get a stronger foothold in Indonesia and Singapore as well as expand to new markets in the region.

Ant and Alibaba did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

On the same day, the US tech group posted the findings of its own research into Facebook's business in India on an internal employee forum. The study, conducted over the two years to the end of 2021, identified different problems.

Zipmex, which says it operates in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, is the latest in a string of crypto players globally to run into difficulties following a sharp sell off in markets that started in May with the collapse of two paired tokens, Luna and TerraUSD. 

Didi, once known as China's answer to Uber, has been one of the highest-profile targets of the widespread clampdown on the sector, which saw years of runaway growth and supersized monopolies before regulators stepped in.

Air Asia says many more features are in the pipeline for its superapp, as the airline operator turns itself into a travel business.

Yellen, who arrived in Seoul late on Monday, told Reuters she was pushing for increased trade ties with South Korea and other trusted allies to improve the resilience of supply chains and avert any possible manipulation by geopolitical rivals.

In its statement, Celsius, which suspended withdrawals in mid-June, said it was seeking to restructure in a way that would maximize value for all stakeholders, and said it had $167 million of cash available to meet urgent needs in the meantime. 

Bali is top destination for remote work, with an estimate of around 80,000 digital nomads visiting the island on a monthly basis

Since 2020, companies around the world have had to innovate in ways like never before to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Many lured by promises of large profits amid desperation of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Fresh Factory, a cold-chain fulfillment start-up, has secured early investment from local and foreign venture capital firms to expand its business.

Celebrating Jakarta’s 495th anniversary on June 22, Tokopedia has highlighted the bestselling categories in the capital throughout the second quarter of 2022, which include Food and Beverages, Health, Household, Electronics and Automotive.

The digital currency sector has been pummeled this week after cryptocurrency lending company Celsius froze withdrawals and transfers between accounts, while crypto companies started laying off employees. There also were reports that a cryptocurrency hedge fund had run into trouble.

Indonesian payments platform Flip has secured additional investment to increase its Series B funding to more than $100 million.

The government is mulling over regulations directed in part at keeping some foreign products off domestic platforms.

The world's most popular cryptocurrency dived about 10 percent to hit $24,692 in morning London deals, striking a level last seen in December 2020.

Indonesia's largest tech firm by user base has seen 65 million unique customers join its superapp in the first three months of the year.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are always looking for ways to streamline their day-to-day operations, from storing and packaging to shipping.

Technology trends are developing so rapidly that traditional methods of education can no longer keep up. Industries want graduates with not only strong academic

PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), in collaboration with Tokopedia (part of GoTo Group), has launched Tokopedia Card, a new credit-card catering to payments for marketplace purchases.