Ghana’s free market economy preventing regulation of cryptocurrency
Banking consultant Nana Otuo Acheampong, has disclosed that the inability of the Bank of Ghana to roll out measures to prevent persons from operating in cryptocurreny is as a result of the nation’s free market economy.
He noted that all the central bank can do for now, is to caution people about cryptocurrencies.
He disclosed this in an interview speaking on the recent press release by the Bank of Ghana waring the public against patronising cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and the “Freedom Coin” in Ghana.
“In a free-market economy, there are certain things you don’t have the legal backing to do. Nobody can tell anyone to trade or not to trade. All the regulator can do is to warn you on where not to put your money. It’s your freedom of choice. So if the Central Bank has warned you that a particular path is dangerous, and you still decide to use it, then you can’t blame them. Their job is to warn you,” he said.
According to the Central Bank, it has not licensed activities relating to digital currencies under the Payments System Act 2003.
The BoG stated in one of its notices that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are not regulated under any laws in Ghana, and are therefore not backed by any guarantees or safeguards.
But as more and more people invest in and trade cryptocurrencies around the world, interest in them continues to grow, dividing governments around the globe on how to handle their regulation.
For some stakeholders, more needs to be done to stop such digital currencies from taking hold in the system and potentially leading to a loss of funds for members of the public.
Meanwhile, Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, Chairman of Ghana Dot Com, has advised the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to provide the policy environment necessary for local firms to provide cryptocurrency services.
According to Prof Quaynor, the Central Bank should come up with what he terms as “innovation regulation” for the adoption and use of cryptocurrencies in the country.
“We as a country should forward and adopt cryptocurrencies through innovation regulation. The policy environment should support Ghanaian companies to venture into providing cryptocurrency services locally before the market is captured by international operators,” he stated.
His call comes at a time when BoG has cautioned the public and financial institutions against an emerging Ghanaian cryptocurrency platform, Freedom Coin, and against all cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, one of the world’s biggest crypto platforms, Binance is advertising in Ghana via some paid TV channels. Again some crypto platforms are also operating into Ghana via digital channels.
Prof. Quaynor cautioned that regulators in Ghana should be careful not to treat cryptocurrency and blockchain like they did to the internet and waited for international operators to dominate it before Ghana started playing catch up.
He noted that the global blockchain and crypto industry is fast consolidating with global companies already building up wallets, while Ghanaian companies are restrained.
“We are hopeful that Blockchain technologies will not suffer the same fate as the internet, where we went from over 100 local ISPs (internet service providers) in the 90s to a handful of multinational companies providing internet services in Ghana today,” he said.
Speaking on the importance of blockchain and its related technologies at the maiden Africa Technovate Awards in Accra, Prof. Quaynor lauded the BoG for steps towards rolling out its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the eCedi.
