Ghana is going to regulate crypto companies: billions market later under supervision

In Ghana, billions are traded in Crypto. Yet there is no form of supervision of the platforms on which that happens. The central bank of the West African country now wants to change that quickly, writes Bloomberg.

Ghana wants a grip on crypto companies

A bill must go to the parliament before September, which states that crypto companies must have a license. With that, the Bank of Ghana wants to gain a better insight into a market that, according to estimates, around 3 million adults already use.

According to Governor Johnson Asiama, the regulation can help to attract strategic investors, stimulate cross -border trade and better measure what is happening financially in the country.

“Many economic players receive and make payments in crypto,” says Asiama. “But because there is no supervision, that is not reflected in our national figures. That has consequences for the local currency.”

Ghana’s coin shows substantial price movements. In the past year the value rose by 48 percent, the year before the currency dropped by 25 percent. In a country that is highly dependent on import, that makes the work of the central bank.

Ghanaian crypto trade good for $ 3 billion

The interest rate of the Central Bank is currently 28 percent, while inflation amounted to 13.7 percent in June. According to Asiama, it is difficult to implement effective monetary policy without insight into the size of crypto use.

That use is not small, between July 2023 and June 2024, 3 billion dollars were traded in Crypto in Ghana, says Del Titus Bawuah of Web3 Africa Group. In neighboring Nigeria, that figure is 59 billion dollars.

“The data clearly shows that citizens and companies use fully crypto,” says Bawuah. His company is working on crypto fairs for several African countries.

Other players also see benefits. Craig Stoehr from Yellow Card, a Pan African Stablecoin payment service, states that Crypto can solve the shortage of available dollars within Africa. “It can really accelerate intra-African trade.”