Ghana’s two financial regulators have drawn a firm line between welcoming crypto innovation and protecting the cedi’s role as the country’s monetary anchor, with both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) using the country’s first major virtual assets symposium on Wednesday to signal that the era of unregulated digital asset operations is definitively over.
The inaugural Ghana Virtual Assets and Financial Services Symposium, organised by the Chamber of Digital Assets and Blockchain Innovations (CDABI) in Accra under the theme “From Trust to Transparency: Building Ghana’s Regulated Digital Asset Future,” brought together industry players, policymakers, compliance professionals and regulators to deliberate on the practical implementation of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025, passed by Parliament on December 19 and signed into law by President John Dramani Mahama.
SEC Deputy Director-General Mensah Thompson used the symposium to announce that the Commission is finalising its regulatory sandbox framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), which will provide a controlled environment under SEC oversight for testing innovative digital asset products and services before full licensing. The sandbox guidelines will be published next week, following what Thompson described as extensive stakeholder engagement.
He said a central pillar of the new framework is compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Travel Rule, which mandates the secure transmission of verified customer information during virtual asset transfers, and confirmed the SEC is working closely with the BoG and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to ensure robust anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls. “Ghana will not become a weak link in the global financial architecture,” he declared.
Acting Head of the BoG’s FinTech and Innovation Department, Caleb Owuraku Asare, told the symposium that while digital asset regulation is necessary to support innovation and investor protection, the cedi must remain central to Ghana’s monetary framework and continue to serve as a key symbol of economic sovereignty. He cautioned operators against allowing virtual assets to function as a substitute for the national currency.
Asare disclosed that the BoG is monitoring rising demand for foreign-backed digital assets and retains the option of issuing a cedi-backed stablecoin to safeguard monetary stability. He pointed to an ongoing cross-border payment pilot with the National Bank of Rwanda that integrates stablecoin settlement in its second phase as evidence of the central bank’s commitment to responsible innovation.
The BoG has already admitted six fintech firms into its regulatory sandbox programme for a one-year validation exercise covering exchange, custody, administration and issuance of virtual assets. Over 100 crypto firms officially registered their operations in Ghana following passage of the law.
The legislation grants the BoG authority to license and supervise VASPs, while the SEC oversees investment products and securities offerings involving digital assets. The BoG plans to implement licensing and supervisory rules in phases throughout 2026, and existing virtual asset service providers will need to register and meet compliance standards to continue operating legally.
Ghana recorded more than three billion US dollars in crypto transactions in 2024, rapidly establishing itself as West Africa’s leading digital assets market by transaction volume. The combination of that transaction base and a new legislative framework has placed Ghana in a competitive position regionally, though regulators on Wednesday emphasised that competitive positioning cannot come at the cost of financial system integrity.
