Ghana’s financial technology adoption has reached a new scale, with mobile money platforms processing over one billion transactions worth approximately GH¢519 billion in August 2026 alone.
Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, disclosed this at the Africa Virtual Assets Summit (AVAS) 2026 held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra, on Monday.
Delivering a goodwill message on the theme _”Virtual Assets and the Future of Ghana’s Financial System: Innovation, Stability and Trust,”_ Dr. Asiama said the next phase of Ghana’s journey is about how technology can reshape the financial architecture to serve more people at lower cost while preserving stability.
Tokenisation Beyond Hype
Speaking on the Summit theme _”Tokenisation: Africa’s Pathway to a Trusted, Inclusive and Innovative Digital Asset Ecosystem,”_ the Governor said virtual assets and tokenisation offer opportunities to address longstanding market imperfections – limited access to capital, high transaction costs, fragmented infrastructure and barriers to cross-border payments.
“Virtual asset infrastructure could make remittances from our diaspora faster and cheaper, and digital settlement could support trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), where payments between neighbouring economies are often slow, costly and routed through third currencies,” he said.
He explained that tokenisation – representing ownership of assets such as securities, commodities and trade receivables in digital form – could allow a small exporter to obtain financing earlier and at lower cost, reduce settlement times from days to minutes, and give SMEs new channels for raising capital.
“Neither virtual assets nor tokenisation is an end in itself. Their value lies in solving real economic problems,” he stressed.
Trust, Cedi Stability and Stablecoins
Dr. Asiama cautioned that innovation must not undermine monetary sovereignty and confidence in the Ghana cedi. He noted that growing adoption of foreign-currency-denominated stablecoins could have implications for currency substitution, capital flows and the effectiveness of monetary policy.
“This does not call for heavy-handed regulation. Not all virtual asset activities present the same risks, and our approach must reflect their nature, scale and complexity,” he said.
“What it does require is trust, built on consumer and investor protection, the safeguarding of customer assets, financial integrity, and sound connections with the traditional financial system.”
Ghana Building Framework – VASP Act and Stablecoin Directive
The Governor said the passage of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154) marks a significant milestone, establishing a dedicated legal framework with coordinated regulation by the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
He announced that stablecoins are a priority, and the Bank of Ghana is developing a *Stablecoin Directive* to set clear requirements for stablecoin activities in Ghana.
The Bank is also working closely with the SEC and the Financial Intelligence Centre to develop the necessary regulatory instruments, while the inauguration of the Virtual Assets Coordinating Committee provides a platform for cooperation among public institutions.
“Our ambition is a financial system that is more inclusive, more efficient and more resilient: one in which a trader in Kumasi, a cocoa farmer and a young developer in Accra can all benefit from faster, cheaper and safer financial services,” Dr. Asiama said.
“Our collective task is not simply to build a digital asset market. It is to build an ecosystem that is safe enough to be trusted, inclusive enough to serve our people, and innovative enough to support Africa’s future.”
