Add India to the list of countries that is wary of cryptocurrencies. Today India’s finance ministry released a statement likening digital currency investments to “Ponzi schemes.”

In fact, India’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India, had already voiced multiple concerns warning investors on the dangers of investing in cryptocurries.

According to a statement published by Business Today, India’s finance ministry said:

Virtual currencies are not backed by government fiat. These are also not legal tender. Hence, VCs are not currencies. These are also being described as ‘Coins’. There is however no physical attribute to these coins. Therefore, VC  are neither currencies nor coins.

And:

As transactions of VCs are encrypted they are also likely being used to carry out illegal and subversive activities, such as, terror-funding, smuggling, drug trafficking and other money-laundering Acts.

The past few weeks have not been bright for the cryptocurrency world, particularly bitcoin – which has fallen more than 25% from its all-time high of more than $19K.

Just yesterday, South Korea released a set of regulations curbing digital investing, causing the altcoin to fall further.

Today bitcoin is trading at $14,156.47 as of 9.30 AM ET, according to CoinBase.

Read more at Reuters and Business Today.

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