The Bank of Ghana is finalizing a regulatory framework to license cryptocurrency platforms, aiming to capture revenue from the growing web3 sector and provide clarity for digital assets. Governor Johnson Asiama stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the framework will be submitted to parliament by September 2025.
Asiama emphasized that the central bank is "late in the game" as 17.3% of Ghanaian adults (over 3 million people) already use cryptocurrencies for transactions, complicating monetary policy due to unrecorded $3 billion in annual crypto flows. This impacts the volatile cedi currency, which surged 48% in the past year after a 25% decline previously.
The regulations seek to enable better cross-border trade monitoring, financial data collection, and strategic web3 investments. Ghana trails regional leaders like Nigeria ($59B in annual crypto volume) and South Africa—the only African nation with formal crypto licensing, having approved 248 providers by December 2024.