Ghana’s authorities should implement a digital asset regulatory framework to higher shield buyers as adoption skyrockets within the West African nation, consultants say.
Native monetary, tech, and regulation business leaders congregated at a latest fintech summit, the place digital belongings and blockchain had been among the many essential gadgets on the agenda. One speaker after one other referred to as on President John Mahama’s administration to observe up on its dedication to digital asset laws, a course of it kicked off final 12 months.
“We’ve got adopted a wait-and-see perspective because the emergence of and persevering with market dominance of digital belongings, and I feel it’s time for presidency and regulators to supply readability on their classifications for applicable market response and leverage,” acknowledged Richard Nunekpeku, the managing accomplice at Sustineri Attorneys PRUC, an Accra-based regulation agency.
Ghana is one in every of Africa’s main digital asset markets, rating ninth globally for adoption in a Finder survey, which discovered that 17% of Ghanaians had invested in digital belongings.
Nevertheless, the nation has lagged behind in laws, with its neighbor Nigeria stepping up its insurance policies in 2024 to purge unlicensed offshore exchanges. In August final 12 months, the Ghanaian central financial institution did, nonetheless, publish new draft pointers for digital asset service suppliers (VASPs), which included a licensing mandate.
Nunekpeku says that the regulatory journey should begin with defining digital belongings, which might inform different insurance policies. This definition has been a headache for regulators in Africa and past; in some nations, sure tokens like BTC have been exempted from securities categorization, whereas others have lumped all tokens collectively.
“The function of presidency in driving improvements have to be to create an enabling surroundings by responsive and forward-looking legislations and laws that stability the leverage of improvements, advance monetary sector targets and shield finish customers of economic companies,” the lawyer stated.
Different consultants who took to the stage reiterated the necessity for laws, which would come with a licensing regime, implementation of Know Your Buyer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) insurance policies, and public consciousness and training campaigns.
“Regulation isn’t about banning cryptocurrency; it’s about creating safeguards. Clear coverage path would construct belief and convey international buyers into Ghana’s digital economic system,” acknowledged Ama Osei, an area monetary analyst.
Regardless of the dearth of laws, Ghana is among the many pioneers in blockchain adoption within the public service in Africa. In 2024, the nation got down to undertake blockchain to scale back corruption.
“We’re going to undertake blockchain expertise to make sure that all knowledge and transactions within the authorities area are clear and tamper-proof,” the then-vice president, Mohammed Bawumia, revealed in a Commonwealth convention on curbing corruption.
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