According to Reuters, Indonesia's central bank (BI) governor Perry Warjiyo said on Monday December 5, its planned digital rupiah currency can be used in the future to buy products in the metaverse. Indonesian laws currently ban the use of cryptocurrencies as an alternative legal tender, but allows transactions of the digital assets in the commodity futures market for investment purposes.

BI launched the design for its digital rupiah last week, following many central banks around the world that are developing so-called central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

According to Bloomberg, the so-called “Project Garuda” is Bank Indonesia’s attempt at experimenting with central bank digital currencies to safeguard its position as the sole authority issuing legal tender in a rapidly changing digital era. The monetary authority recently issued a white paper to lay out its plans in detail.

The Southeast Asia's biggest economy’s digital currency will use a technology platform that will comply with other central banks' digital currencies platforms.

The digital currency will be rolled out in three phases. First, the wholesale form will be used by mostly larger banks to transfer funds among themselves and the central bank. Next, the CBDC application will be expanded to the entire interbank money market and monetary operations. Lastly, the digital rupiah will be used by retail consumers for everything from fund transfers to utilities payments. Furthermore, there is an ongoing initiative among several participating central banks on the determination of exchange rates used for digital currencies and on its operational supervision, which includes cyber risk and capital flow.