One code to rule them all: Indonesia’s QRIS development
22 September, 2025
Birth of QRIS
QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) is Indonesia’s national digital payment standard introduced by the Central Bank of Indonesia, Bank Indonesia, in August 2019. It was developed to unify and simplify the fragmented digital payment landscape into a single, interoperable system. With QRIS, consumers can pay anywhere using a single QR code, regardless of the payment service provider. This standardization aims to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and promote financial inclusion.
How QRIS Took Over Indonesia
Since its rollout in 2020, Indonesians have widely adopted QRIS. As of mid-2025, over 57 million users and 32 million merchants, predominantly MSMEs, rely on QRIS for daily transactions. Its simplicity has made it particularly popular among small vendors and rural communities, driving Indonesia closer to a cashless society.
In Q2 2025 alone, QRIS transactions surged by 148.5% year-on-year. The total transaction value hit IDR 6.1 billion, reaching 93% of the national target of 6.5 billion transactions. The number of QRIS users continues to show significant growth in Indonesia. In fact, according to Bank Indonesia, Gen Z has emerged as the largest user base, accounting for 27.94%.
Furthermore, 38.1 million MSMEs in Indonesia have adopted QRIS as per Q1 2025, which represents the largest share of the country’s 56.3 million QRIS merchants. The transaction volume reached 2.6 billion, showing that MSMEs are increasingly ready for digital transformation.For MSMEs, QRIS has reduced costs, enabled digital payments, and improved accessibility. It also expands customer reach and creates verifiable financial records.
There is also QRIS Tap, an NFC-based feature launched in March 2025, and it has shown strong growth. As of June 2025, 47.8 million users were using QRIS Tap and the number of merchants grew from 646 at launch to 648,034. Therefore, QRIS Tap adoption is increasing across banking and merchants, with strategies including campaigns, promotions, and integration with services like transport.
QRIS Hits the World Stage
QRIS has gone beyond domestic use and is now making waves internationally. This innovation, known as QRIS Cross-Border, allows tourists and businesses to conduct cross-border transactions seamlessly to eliminate the hassle of currency exchange. So far, QRIS has expanded to several countries. Thailand became the first partner in August 2022, allowing Indonesian tourists to pay directly without converting rupiah into baht. Malaysia followed in May 2023 by integrating QRIS with DuitNow QR. In Singapore, the system went live in November 2023. Indonesian payment apps now work at merchants that accept NETS QR, SGQR, or SFQR+ with the NETS logo. More recently, Japan officially adopted QRIS on 17 August 2025, through collaboration with Bank Indonesia and Netstars.
The total value of QRIS transactions among countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, reached IDR 1.66 trillion by June 2025. Meanwhile, China is currently running trials with full implementation planned by the end 2025.
On top of that, Bank Indonesia is exploring partnerships with South Korea, the UAE, India, and Saudi Arabia to position QRIS as a global standard. These markets are critical: South Korea is a key tourism and investment partner; the UAE is a trade and finance hub with a large Indonesian expatriate population; India is a fast-growing economy and major remittance corridor; and Saudi Arabia is a top destination for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. In 2025 alone, 221,000 Indonesians traveled for Hajj, with strong demand also for Umrah year-round.
With the global expansion, the advantages of QRIS are clear: it’s convenient, universal, and efficient. QRIS is not just digitizing payments but also connecting travelers, businesses, and economies with a simple scan.
Geopolitical Dimension on QRIS
QRIS, both domestically and internationally, is also viewed through a geopolitical lens. The United States has expressed concerns over QRIS, labeling it a potential trade barrier. In its 2025 National Trade Estimate Report, the US Trade Representative (USTR) highlighted that QRIS, along with Indonesia’s National Payment Gateway, could hinder foreign payment providers like Visa and Mastercard from fully accessing the Indonesian market. The US contends that this domestic system may restrict market entry for foreign companies and reduce competitiveness.
Indonesia, however, has defended QRIS as a tool for financial inclusion and digital sovereignty. Bank Indonesia emphasizes that QRIS is designed to be open and interoperable by allowing foreign payment providers to participate. For instance, the Cross-Border QRIS is governed by bilateral and regional agreements with countries like Japan, Indonesia collaborated with Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding QR Code-Based Payments which links QRIS with the Japan Unified QR Code (JPQR). This shows that Bank Indonesia is open for collaboration with any foreign stakeholders, not to compete.
On top of that, as regulator, Bank Indonesia plays a central role in ensuring the system’s credibility and fairness. This includes Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 23/6/2021 on Payment System Providers, which sets licensing, security, interoperability, and risk management requirements. Regulation No. 21/18/2019 also established QRIS technical standards and compliance rules for payment service providers.
What’s Next for QRIS?
Looking ahead, expanding connectivity to remote and underserved areas is highly important. Bank Indonesia should work closely with telcos and internet infrastructure providers to ensure QRIS can be used even in rural regions, where network coverage may be limited. Besides domestic adoption, QRIS also needs to support Indonesians living or working abroad, including students and migrant workers to make seamless payments and bridge the gap between local financial systems and Indonesian digital wallets.
As QRIS continues to expand, its adoption faces challenges in addressing the digital divide. While smartphone penetration in Indonesia has reached around 76% as of 2024, however, affordability of devices and patchy internet access remain barriers especially in rural and remote areas. Many micro and small enterprises still operate in cash-heavy environments due to limited digital literacy or unstable connectivity. Without improvements in infrastructure and targeted education campaigns, QRIS risks leaving behind communities that would benefit most from digital payments. Therefore, bridging this divide through internet infrastructure and literacy, will be essential to ensure inclusive adoption in digital payment.
It also faces challenges related to data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and maintaining interoperability with international payment systems. Ensuring the security and reliability of QRIS will be crucial for sustaining user trust and supporting its growth. Additionally, balancing domestic interest with international trade relations will be essential as QRIS becomes a more integral part of Indonesia’s digital economy.
QRIS has evolved from a domestic digital payment solution into a platform with global ambitions, connecting millions of users and merchants across Indonesia and expanding internationally. Its continued growth will depend on ensuring security, interoperability, and accessibility, especially for remote areas and Indonesians abroad. By addressing these challenges and leveraging opportunities for innovation, QRIS is set to strengthen Indonesia’s digital economy and the country’s leadership in global digital payment. Therefore, a simple scan today is shaping the future of seamless transactions tomorrow.
The rapid growth of digital platforms has reshaped how children learn, communicate, and entertain themselves. While the internet offers unprecedented opportunities, it also exposes children to serious risks such as harmful content, cyberbullying, online grooming, and the exploitation of personal data. Recognizing these challenges, the Indonesian government introduced PP Tunas, a landmark regulation designed to […]
When Instacart charged some U.S. customers up to 23% more than others for identical groceries based on AI algorithms, the backlash was swift and fierce. A box of crackers cost $3.99 for some shoppers but $4.89 for others; eggs ranged from $3.99 to $4.79- all determined by machine-learning models testing consumers’ price sensitivity. The controversy […]
In five months, hackers quietly siphoned personal data from 33.7 million Coupang customers—virtually the platform’s entire user base in South Korea. Nobody noticed. Not the e-commerce giant. Not regulators. Not the security systems supposedly guarding against exactly this kind of breach. When the theft finally came to light on December 1, it marked South Korea’s worst data breach in over […]
jQuery(function(jQuery){jQuery.datepicker.setDefaults({"closeText":"Close","currentText":"Today","monthNames":["January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"monthNamesShort":["Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"],"nextText":"Next","prevText":"Previous","dayNames":["Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday"],"dayNamesShort":["Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"],"dayNamesMin":["S","M","T","W","T","F","S"],"dateFormat":"d MM, yy","firstDay":1,"isRTL":false});});
var gform_i18n = {"datepicker":{"days":{"monday":"Mo","tuesday":"Tu","wednesday":"We","thursday":"Th","friday":"Fr","saturday":"Sa","sunday":"Su"},"months":{"january":"January","february":"February","march":"March","april":"April","may":"May","june":"June","july":"July","august":"August","september":"September","october":"October","november":"November","december":"December"},"firstDay":1,"iconText":"Select date"}};
var gf_legacy_multi = [];
var gform_gravityforms = {"strings":{"invalid_file_extension":"This type of file is not allowed. Must be one of the following:","delete_file":"Delete this file","in_progress":"in progress","file_exceeds_limit":"File exceeds size limit","illegal_extension":"This type of file is not allowed.","max_reached":"Maximum number of files reached","unknown_error":"There was a problem while saving the file on the server","currently_uploading":"Please wait for the uploading to complete","cancel":"Cancel","cancel_upload":"Cancel this upload","cancelled":"Cancelled"},"vars":{"images_url":"https:\/\/ps-engage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/images"}};
var gf_global = {"gf_currency_config":{"name":"U.S. Dollar","symbol_left":"$","symbol_right":"","symbol_padding":"","thousand_separator":",","decimal_separator":".","decimals":2,"code":"USD"},"base_url":"https:\/\/ps-engage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms","number_formats":[],"spinnerUrl":"https:\/\/ps-engage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/images\/spinner.svg","version_hash":"c8e6739cc393d67db1a2db79d11eb8af","strings":{"newRowAdded":"New row added.","rowRemoved":"Row removed","formSaved":"The form has been saved. The content contains the link to return and complete the form."}};
var gform_theme_config = {"common":{"form":{"honeypot":{"version_hash":"c8e6739cc393d67db1a2db79d11eb8af"}}},"hmr_dev":"","public_path":"https:\/\/ps-engage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/gravityforms\/assets\/js\/dist\/"};
