Baliโ€™s government is cracking down on tourists paying for goods and services using cryptocurrency, with the islandโ€™s governor sending a reminder that Indonesiaโ€™s fiat currency is the only legal tender.

On May 28, the government-owned news agency Antara reportedย that Bali Governor Wayan Koster hosted a press conference the same day and said tourists who โ€œuse crypto as a means of payment [...] will be dealt with firmly.โ€

โ€œStrict actions range from deportation, administrative sanctions, criminal penalties, closure of business premises and other tough sanctions,โ€ he added.

The meeting was attended by Baliโ€™s chief police inspector and Trisno Nugroho, the head of the Bali Representative Office for Bank Indonesia โ€” the countryโ€™s central bank.

Nugroho reaffirmed that trading crypto is allowed but the use of crypto for payments is banned.

Koster noted that Indonesiaโ€™s currency โ€” the rupiah โ€” is the only one that can be legally used for payments in the country. The use of other currencies carries a maximum potential sentence of one year in prison and a fine of 200 million rupiah ($13,000).

The Bali governorโ€™s announcement comes days after a May 26 investigative report in Kompas, considered the countryโ€™s newspaper of record.