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India has just unveiled its budget plan for 2018, where the finance minister doubled down on refusing to recognize cryptocurrencies or their value. This has put a lot of fingers to the foreheads regarding the acceptance of Bitcoin, Ethereum and the other popular cryptocurrencies in India.

Arun Jaitley, who is India’s finance minister has spoken at the Indian Parliament while presenting the Union Budget. In his talks, he said:

“The Government does not consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate the use of these crypto assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payments system.”

The declaration comes a little over a month after the official caution by the Ministry of Finance against investments in cryptocurrencies, pointing to them as ponzi schemes. Still, today’s remark is a rehash of what we already knew or the position of the government on cryptocurrencies.

However, any ban on the use of cryptocurrencies as payment instruments won’t forbid adopters from trading them on crypto exchanges. Indeed, the finance minister made no suggestions towards any potential ban of cryptocurrency exchanges.

What’s interesting is that there are a lot of Bitcoin-friendly restaurants and establishments accepting the cryptocurrency right now in India. However, they might be forced to stop in the near future.