Ghana Regulator Labels Crypto Transactions Illegal— Urges People to 'Stay Away From Them'

Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently warned residents of the West African country to avoid cryptocurrency transactions of any form. In the warning, the regulator reiterated that “cryptocurrencies are illegal in the country and are not regulated by the commission hence Ghanaians should stay away from them.”

Risks Associated With Crypto

In remarks made during an interview, Paul Ababio, the Deputy Director-General of the (SEC) asserts that “there are risks associated with cryptocurrencies and people have lost funds to such transactions.” However, despite issuing the warning, Ababio does hint that his organisation might eventually decide to regulate the crypto space.

(The) Bank of Ghana does not treat it as a form of payment, it is not a legal tender but we will be engaging further to come out with frameworks.

However, until that happens, the regulator urges Ghanaians to “desist from participating (in cryptocurrency transactions.)”

Master Plan

In the meantime, Ababio reveals that “the commission is forming a fintech round table as part of its master plan to look into some of these innovations and the approach to take.” However, he cautions that this is still a work in progress.

A number of countries in Africa are leading the race when it comes to the global adoption of crypto assets. Aside from places like Nigeria and South Africa, Ghana is one of the top countries in Africa with rising peer-to-peer crypto trade volumes.

Ghana’s government has noticed the adoption and the SEC has witnessed ostensible stories of citizens losing funds. The SEC official also took time to explain why the regulator has undertaken to study cryptos further. He said:

There are clear risks to the nature of it. People have lost their keys and they can no longer access their funds so it is something that we are studying.

While Ababio has promised “some action on that front”, he still fails to give the exact timeframe within which “the commission is expected to come out with a final decision on the matter.”