Ghana’s money is changing faster than its financial system

The more consequential questions concern how the framework works in practice: whether licensed providers can obtain appropriate banking and settlement relationships, how they will connect to Ghana’s domestic financial infrastructure, how customer protection, liquidity, custody and financial-crime controls will work, and how different virtual asset transactions will be treated for tax purposes.

The Head of Data Analytics, Research and Strategy at First National Bank, Julien Ayyipey asserts that across the region, virtual assets are increasingly intersecting with smaller transactions, cross-border payments and ordinary financial activity, while stablecoins are becoming an important part of how value moves across borders.

These questions will determine whether regulation actually changes financial behaviour or simply places a legal framework around activity that continues largely outside the domestic financial system.