In India, cryptocurrencies are considered illegal, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has claimed that India is taking action to move away from the use of cryptocurrencies. They are launching an attack on the virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin.

Governments all over the world are trying to figure out how to regulate these virtual currencies. There is a G20 summit in Argentina this March that policymakers are attending, and they are expected to speak upon this issue at length.

In the annual budget speech Jaitley told parliament, “The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system”.

The government is said to be looking into block chain technology and trying to gain knowledge to try and actively push toward the digital economy.

The announcement from Jaitley might result in the “panic selling” of cryptocurrencies throughout India.

Bitcoin has shed half its value because people are nervous that regulators will buckle down on cryptocurrencies. In this last month, Bitcon’s value peaked at more than $19,600 but has dramatically gone down since then.

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A survey was conducted in India dealing with people that are involved in cryptocurrencies, and results showed transactions of more than $3.5 billion over a 17-month period.

Jaitley’s ministry had also warned investors within cryptocurrency, they think that transactions like these resemble Ponzi schemes and people need to exert caution.

A statement was made by Kartik Shinde who is a partner at consultancy EY India and said, “The choice to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be open to end users, the government is taking proactive measures to curb fraud and illicit transactions”.

The government has made it clear it wants to end the use of these unregulated virtual currencies, and they are acting on it.