Ghana to legislate virtual currency use-Central bank: Steps are underway for the Bank of Ghana to legislate the use of virtual currencies in the country, a release announced here late Monday.
To that effect it said a revised Payments System Act (referred to as Payment Systems and Services Bill) will be considered by Parliament within the next couple of months to bring the electronic payments space up to date to international standards and aligned with the evolving electronic payments landscape.
For now, the central bank said it had “taken notice of recent developments in the use, holding, and trading of virtual or digital currencies (also known as cryptocurrencies), such as Bitcoin in Ghana. The Bank of Ghana wishes to notify the general public that these activities in digital currency are currently not licensed under the Payments System Act 2003 (Act 662).”
“While the Bank of Ghana acknowledges the enormous potential in the blockchain technology and how that can significantly transform the payments system landscape and promote financial inclusion, we are assessing with stakeholders and other international partners how the subsequent use of the blockchain technology into digital currencies would fit into the global financial and payments architecture,” the statement added.
To promote online transactions further, the statement signed by Caroline Otoo, Secretary of The Bank said the central bank was investing a lot of resources to enhance the payments and settlements system, including digital forms of money and also to introduce cyber security guidelines to safeguard electronic and online financial transactions.
Calls are beginning to emerge in the country for the central bank to state its position on the use of cryptocurrencies which have been gaining some global attention.
The governor of Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison had told the media at the press briefing on Monday morning after bank’s 80th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that there was need for a review of the Payment Systems Act to make electronic currencies legal tender. Enditem
Source: Bank of Ghana
