Volume 6 • Issue 2 • PP: 17–25 • 2026
FinTech Infrastructure and Cryptocurrency Markets in Southeast Asia: A Systematic Review with Evidence from Indonesia and Malaysia
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© 2026 The Author(s). Published by ASPG. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
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Indonesia and Malaysia are a perfect example of the global FinTech order: two of the world’s biggest Muslim-majority economies with growing and fast expanding digital financial infrastructure, with different regulatory architectures and at different stages of maturity of the cryptocurrency market. In this paper, a systematic review of 40 peer-reviewed studies on technology infrastructure for financial markets in general, the dynamics and adoption of cryptocurrencies, design of central bank digital currencies, Islamic FinTech, and comparative regulatory frameworks in both countries is presented. The review includes five thematic streams: digital payment infrastructure, connectedness of the cryptocurrency market, CBDC development, CBDC Shariah compliance, and financial inclusion enabled by FinTech. The Key findings indicate that Indonesia, under the guidance of the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) since 2023, has more than 30 licensed exchanges and an estimated 15 million retail investors, while Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) prioritises investor protection over market breadth, issuing five exchanges with higher levels of integration in Islamic finance. There are three structural challenges in both jurisdictions: the lack of ASEAN-level regulatory coordination, the digital infrastructure gap that remains in rural populations and the lack of a harmonized screening mechanism for assets based on Shariah. The review pinpoints 7 high-priority research gaps and outlines a research agenda for the future, organized in 5 methodological pillars.
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