The speed of the adoption and use of cryptocurrency that utilizes blockchain technology as its central infrastructure is expanding globally, including in Indonesia. It has promising prospects as a future asset and payment instrument. However, the regulations in Indonesia are often delayed and inadequate for dealing with cryptocurrency's developments. This research is intended to analyze the approaches, regulations, and protection of the use of cryptocurrency. This study argues that the regulatory approach to using cryptocurrency is balanced, while Indonesia has a partial status in cryptocurrency legality. The government’s protection of cryptocurrency investors is adequate in using cryptocurrency as a commodity traded on futures exchanges with a license from Bappebti. A progressive policy for establishing the Digital Asset Law by the government is important due to the resultant clarity in the regulatory status of cryptocurrency will allow the ecosystem to grow and promote innovation, thus harnessing the benefits of cryptocurrency while mitigating related risks.

Early marriage in Indonesia has garnered attention from international forums, urging the eradication of this practice to safeguard children’s rights. Despite national regulations raising the minimum age of marriage to 19 for both males and females, this practice persists due to legal loopholes allowing marriage dispensations granted by the court. Utilizing a socio-legal approach, this article analyzes 14 verdicts from the Wonosari Religious Court in 2022. The authors find that religious judges employ juridical, theological, psychological, and sociological argumentations in approving marriage dispensations based on three reasons presented by applicants. Among these reasons, two are granted not based on ‘urgent reasons’ but rather on interpretations of Islamic law and prevailing social norms. In-depth interviews with four religious judges handling these cases reveal variations in interpreting ‘urgent reasons’ in the context of marriage dispensations. The authors argue that the interpretation of ‘urgent reasons’ should prioritize the best interests of the child rather than merely considering potential violations of religious and social norms. This study provides profound insights into the dynamics of legal interpretation in the marriage dispensation decision-making process.

This study explores the intersection between cryptocurrencies and criminal organizations through a systematic literature review. By examining peer-reviewed academic publications, the research identifies the mechanisms by which criminal groups leverage digital currencies for illicit activities such as money laundering, fraud, and extortion. A structured PRISMA-based methodology was adopted, employing well-defined inclusion, and exclusion criteria to ensure transparency and replicability. The study reveals critical trends in the misuse of cryptocurrencies, the technological challenges faced by regulators, and the limitations of current enforcement frameworks. The originality of this research lies in synthesizing existing academic insights while identifying key gaps in the literature. The findings highlight the urgent need for tailored regulatory responses and greater cross-border cooperation, contributing to both academic understanding and policymaking. The practical implications include recommendations for policy adaptation and future research pathways to mitigate cryptocurrency-enabled criminal behavior.

This paper examines how scam compounds, money mules and crypto-assets operate as interdependent elements of contemporary money-laundering chains. It assesses whether existing anti-money laundering (AML) and crypto-asset regulatory frameworks are capable of disrupting these chains holistically, rather than addressing individual components in isolation, with particular reference to scam-compound activity in Southeast Asia. The study adopts a qualitative comparative case-study methodology grounded in legal and regulatory analysis. Four empirically grounded cases are examined: two Southeast Asian scam-compound enforcement cases (Cambodia and Myanmar) and two European crypto-asset seizure cases (Ireland and Italy). Judicial decisions, enforcement actions and regulatory instruments are analysed through a chain-based analytical framework aligned with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) framework. The analysis reveals a structural divergence in enforcement strategies: Southeast Asian responses increasingly prioritise network- and infrastructure-level disruption of scam compounds, whereas European approaches remain largely centred on post-offence crypto-asset seizure through traditional proceeds-of-crime mechanisms. Across all jurisdictions, money mules emerge as a critical yet systematically under-regulated intermediary layer enabling the resilience of crypto-laundering operations. The paper advances existing AML typologies by conceptualising scam compounds, money mules and crypto-assets as interconnected components of a single crypto-laundering chain. This chain-based perspective offers a novel analytical and regulatory lens for understanding organised crypto-enabled fraud. The study is based on a qualitative, case-based design and does not aim for statistical generalisation. However, the analytical framework developed is transferable to other jurisdictions experiencing similar scam-compound and crypto-laundering dynamics. The findings suggest that effective AML enforcement requires coordinated intervention across multiple nodes of the laundering chain, including scam compound infrastructure and money mule networks, alongside traditional asset-seizure mechanisms and CASP supervision. By highlighting the structural links between scam compounds, coercive labour and crypto-laundering mechanisms, the paper underscores the broader social harms of crypto-enabled fraud and the need for integrated regulatory responses that address both financial crime and human exploitation.