Gold has been the most popular investment for Indonesians for ages. The safe-haven asset is considered a low-risk venture that is easy to store, unlike intangible assets like savings accounts, stocks, mutual funds, or bonds.
However, as millennials are coming to define consumer trends in Indonesia, people in the country are losing interest in physical gold because of its rising price and the high cost of initial investment. Also, keeping gold is becoming risky without a safe deposit box.
To address some of these demands, several digital gold market platforms have been set up in Indonesia to offer digi-gold transactions in small amounts. Some of the platforms also collaborate with Indonesian e-commerce firms such as Bukalapak and Tokopedia to reach more consumers, particularly among millennials.
For this week’s “Early Stage,” KrASIA takes a look at four digi-gold startups that are facilitating these services.
IndoGold launched in 2010, and has grown to serve 47,000 users. It offers transactions in valuations as low as IDR 100 (USD 0.007), and also feature installment payment programs where buyers can lock in a price and pay it off over a period of time. On top of that, IndoGold provides loans and gold pawning. The company has partnered with several Indonesian e-commerce firms, such as Bukalapak, Lazada, and Blibli.
Treasury offers gold bar trading and storage through its website and mobile apps. The company was established in November 2018 and has 18,000 active customers. It works with the Indonesia Clearing House (ICH), which serves as its guarantor of transactions, while Untung Bersama Sejahtera (UBS) supplies the gold. Clients can own gold deposits starting from IDR 20,000 (USD 1.41), with 0.5 grams as the minimum weight. Moreover, Treasury also provides Nusantara coins—24-carat gold coins that incorporate designs with cultural motifs. Nusantara coins are produced by UBS for Treasury. They are inspired by dinar coins.
MasDuit is a new product that was established in September 2019 by PT Aurum Digital Internusa, a subsidiary of PT Hartadinata Abadi Tbk. MasDuit aims for its apps to be downloaded 500,000 times by the end of this year, and expects to have an active user rate of 30%. At present, the company has 34 gold stalls in Indonesia, allowing users to pick up their investment so they can store and handle it on their own, with quantities beginning at 0.1 grams.
Pegadaian Digital Service (PDS) is a platform established in April 2018 by state-owned pawn shop PT Pegadaian. As of July 2019, it has sold 375 kilograms of gold, and maintained a stock of around 3.2 metric tons of gold. PDS has 2.83 million users, many of whom were brought on board via a collaboration with Tokopedia that has been in place since January 2019. The company is in discussion with Bukalapak, Blibli, and Blanja for more tie-ups.
“Early Stage” is a series where the writers of KrASIA highlight startups that caught our eye for the week.