Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison, has said plans are far advanced in the Central Bank’s bid to issue its own digital currency.
Making the disclosure at the 100th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press briefing, Dr Addison noted the Bank has completed the first phase of the process which is the preferred design for the digital currency.
The second phase the Governor noted, constitute the implementation and piloting phase, which is currently being worked on by the Bank.
“We are quite advanced in the process to issue a digital currency, the first phase was the design of the electronic system and the second phase which is where we are currently, which is to see to the implementation and piloting phase of the digital currency,” he stated.
“After the pilot phase, we will then know if the digital currency is feasible and if not, what needs to be done to make it better,” he added.
Announcing the issuance of a digital currency at the virtual regional capacity building workshop organized jointly by IMF’s AFRITAC West 2 and Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM), Second Deputy of the BoG, Mrs Elsie Awadzi Addo, noted the Bank’s decision to launch a digital currency, is to ensure and provide further support for the orderly development of the digital financial services landscape in the country.
“Regulators are increasingly relying on more regulatory and supervisory technology to improve effectiveness, and more and more Central Banks including the Bank of Ghana are exploring the launch of Central Bank Digital Currency to further support the orderly development of the digital financial services landscapes,” she noted.
Speaking further at the press briefing, Dr Addison however, expressed the Bank’s disapproval of the use of cryptocurrency stating, “cryptocurrency is not a regulated activity of the Central Bank, the public must not trade in it.”
Like the BoG, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also considered the issuance of its own digital currency and has also noted that it is putting together a framework to regulate cryptocurrency use in Nigeria – the continent’s biggest user of the digital asset.
In a related development. the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its readiness to regulate the use of cryptocurrency in the Capital Market.
The Commission’s assertion followed the introduction of its 10-year Masterplan project.
In a media interaction, Deputy Director General of SEC, Paul Ababio, noted that SEC as part of the implementation of Master plan will look at implementing an engagement series with sector players in the digital currency space to dialogue on how to regulate cryptocurrency use in the country.
“We will be establishing a “Fintech roundtable” and invite selected participants. We will also have an engagement session around this and come out with a clear-cut policy”, he said.
“We will be able to spell out what the strategy will be, on how to address it. There are various dynamics to the cryptocurrency occurrence; there’s the actual blockchain technology which can be deployed for other purposes and then the monetization of that technology and how it interacts with the real sector”, he added.
