When blockchain and cryptocurrency first made headlines, many saw them as disruptors to the current financial order. This is because transactions that involve cryptocurrencies remove the need for an intermediary - a role banks and other financial institutions have traditionally filled.Unlike banks and the current financial system, cryptocurrencies are backed by a system called blockchain. Blockchain is essentially a decentralised ledger, where every transaction is recorded.

The wave of volatility engulfing emerging markets increases the odds of another interest-rate hike in Indonesia in a policy decision on Wednesday that economists say is a close call.A rate pause this week was looking like a comfortable prediction after three rate hikes totalling one percentage point since mid-May helped to stabilize the rupiah and reverse some of the outflows earlier this year.

Indonesia’s central bank is set to raise its benchmark interest rate for a third time since May in a bid to halt a deepening currency rout.Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is struggling to fire and inflation remains subdued, but Bank Indonesia’s (BI) focus is squarely on the rupiah. Indonesia has been among the hardest hit in Asia in a global emerging-market sell-off triggered by higher United States (US) interest rates and a stronger dollar.

Indonesia’s market rout shows no signs of abating, with its two-year bonds the latest to be dumped in anticipation that the central bank may need to raise rates to defend its currency.The yield on the two-year debt soared 34 basis points to a 10-month high of 6.73 percent as the currency weakened past the psychological 14,000 level on Monday.

Indonesia’s central bank is in no rush to pull the interest rate trigger just yet, thanks in part to the government.While policy makers in Malaysia have started raising rates, Bank Indonesia has refrained from tightening as benign prices allow Governor Agus Martowardojo to focus on supporting economic growth.