Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced plans Tuesday to build a regulatory environment that positions virtual assets as the primary vehicle for producing the country’s first generation of self-made millionaires and billionaires under 40.
Mensah Thompson, Acting Deputy Director-General of the SEC, made the declaration at a virtual assets forum held on the sidelines of the 2026 3i Africa Summit in Accra. The forum carried the theme: “Ghana’s Approach to Virtual Assets: Enabling Innovation While Safeguarding Stability.”
Thompson anchored his projection on global momentum. More than 560 million people currently hold virtual assets worldwide, and analysts project tokenised assets in bonds, equities, and real estate could reach between US$10 trillion and US$16 trillion by 2030.
He argued that the shift away from inheritance-based and family wealth creation toward technology-driven innovation opens a direct path for young Ghanaians to build scalable companies in digital finance, blockchain infrastructure, and virtual asset services.
“The assignment for you is to create the future,” Thompson told attendees.
Virtual assets covered under Ghana’s emerging framework include cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralised finance (DeFi) tokens, and tokenised securities.
To anchor the framework, the SEC established a dedicated Virtual Assets Committee working alongside the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to implement the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154). The legislation targets investor protection, anti-money laundering compliance, and cybersecurity safeguards.
A regulatory sandbox already in operation has admitted 17 firms, 11 supervised by the SEC and six by the Central Bank. The sandbox allows selected companies to test crypto-related products under regulatory oversight before receiving full licensing, with the SEC collecting real-time data to shape rules that reflect Ghana’s specific market conditions rather than importing foreign models.
Thompson described Ghana’s current macroeconomic environment as favourable for young entrepreneurs and urged innovators to build solutions in digital investment platforms and critical financial infrastructure.
