International Finance
Banking

Now Ghana wants to launch digital national currency

Ghana digital currency
The bank is in talks with key stakeholders to explore the possibility of launching a pilot project for digital currency initiative

The Bank of Ghana is considering the launch of a digital form of the national currency cedi to support electronic payment systems, such as mobile money. Ghana’s proposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiative is in line with the country’s vision to digitise the financial and banking sector.

The Bank of Ghana is in discussion with key stakeholders to explore all possibilities in launching a digital currency pilot project for ecedi. 

Also, Ghana’s largest lender Ghana Commercial Bank is authorised to issue emoney, according to media reports. In recent years, Africa has witnessed growing interest in cryptocurrency. 

Mobile money transaction volumes increased 1.4 billion last year, compared to 982 million in 2017. In fact, the Ghana central bank is in discussions to develop a pilot project in a sandbox environment, according to media reports. Currently, the country is undergoing a digitisation phase — and the mobile banking sector is booming. Mobile money transfers increased by 70 percent from 2017 to 2018. 

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana Ernest Addison, told the media that, “Digital financial technologies will continue to define the future of our banking experience. This consistent growth pattern underscores the sustainable nature of opportunity for the banking sector.”

Currently, there are 64 blockchain and cryptocurrency firms in Africa across 11 various sub-categories, including exchanges and wallets, based on the Block Crypto research. Last month, bitcoin trading platform Paxful added 80,000 wallets in the past 12 months. It has seen tremendous growth in African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.

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