The Indonesia Financial Services Authority (OJK) has revoked fintech peer-to-peer firm PT Crowde Membangun Bangsa’s (Crowde) licence, according to an official decree issued on November 6, 2025.
The decision follows a series of supervisory actions taken earlier this year, including the suspension of CROWDE’s lending operations issued on February 9, 2025; and the company’s placement under special monitoring, issued on October 31, 2025, Agusman, OJK’s head of capital market and cooperative supervision, said in a statement.
On November 6, 2025, OJK further determined that the company was no longer capable of being restored to financial health, a status formalised through a letter. Based on these successive assessments, OJK concluded that the company’s business license must be revoked.
With the revocation now in effect, CROWDE is required to cease all business activities, submit a final financial report to OJK within 15 working days, and assign a temporary task team to handle user and creditor inquiries while the dissolution process is prepared.
The company must convene a shareholder meeting within 30 working days to formally dissolve the legal entity and establish a liquidation team that will be responsible for executing all remaining obligations in accordance with Indonesia’s financial services regulations.
CROWDE, founded to provide working capital to small farmers via a crowdfunding model, had been among the earlier licensed entrants in the agricultural-focused P2P lending segment, receiving its full lending permit in September 2021.
“If any errors are discovered in this decision at a later date, appropriate corrections will be made. This Decision of the Members of the Board of Commissioners of the Financial Services Authority shall come into effect on the date of its stipulation,” OJK stated.
Fraud and data manipulation
The case began when J Trust Bank, one of CROWDE’s institutional lenders, filed a police report against CROWDE’s management team on February 22, 2025, accusing them of fraud, embezzlement, and potential money laundering, according to a press release issued by the bank.
Following this, DealStreetAsia reported in July about CROWDE’s allegations of fraud and data manipulation under its former management. The company is said to have misused nearly 800 billion rupiah ($49 million) of loan capital, allegedly diverting it through fake farming projects and shell vendor networks, DealStreetAsia has learnt from the whistleblower.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the alleged wrongdoings within CROWDE can be traced back to the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with growing pressure from investors to increase growth, the company began executing what insiders described as “suspicious projects” that deviated significantly from its standard lending model.
What began as a single pilot project escalated into more than 10,000 initiatives between 2021 and 2024. Sources estimate that out of the 1.3 trillion rupiah (around $80.1 million) in total disbursed loans during this period, only 500 billion rupiah ($30.8 million) were linked to some legitimate farming activities.
The remaining 800 billion rupiah ($49.3 million) is believed to have been funnelled through fictitious transactions, with no corresponding assets recorded, according to an estimate prepared by the whistleblower, seen by DealStreetAsia.
The loans were mainly from Bank Mandiri, which disbursed 300-400 billion rupiah ($18-24 million); Bank BJB, which lent around 200 billion rupiah ($12 million); J Trust Bank; and some local BPRs (i.e., rural banks).
Bank Mandiri’s corporate venture capital arm, Mandiri Capital, is the third-largest shareholder in CROWDE, with a 15.46% stake, according to DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE. The largest stake was held by CROWDE’s founder, Yohanes Sugihtononugroho, with a 28.59% stake, followed by Monk’s Hill Ventures (25.18%).
