Bank of Ghana Plans Stablecoin Directive Amid Cedi Concerns: Details

TL;DR

• Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama said the central bank is developing a Stablecoin Directive to set clear requirements for stablecoin activities.
• He warned that growing adoption of foreign-currency stablecoins could affect monetary sovereignty, currency substitution, capital flows, and monetary-policy effectiveness.
• He said the bank is building on the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154), and working closely with the SEC and the Financial Intelligence Centre to build robust supervisory frameworks.
• He highlighted the potential impact of Virtual Assets and tokenisation in improving trade and financial access across the continent. 
•  Asiama said regulation should reflect the nature, scale and complexity of different virtual asset activities rather than be heavy-handed.

Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama delivered a keynote address at the Africa Virtual Assets Summit (AVAS) 2026 in Accra on November 2, where he announced that the central bank is actively developing a dedicated Stablecoin Directive. The Directive will set clear requirements for stablecoin activities in the country and clarify what is permitted.

The Directive is currently under development and has not yet been issued. If developed, the directive could address concerns the IMF highlighted about Ghana’s crypto regulatory framework. 

Why Foreign-Currency Stablecoins Concern the Central Bank

Dr Asiama acknowledged the potential benefits of stablecoins, especially in payments and settlements. However, he also expressed concern about the rapid adoption of foreign-currency-pegged stablecoins and their impact on: 

• Monetary Sovereignty: Widespread issuance of foreign-denominated digital currency can dilute the state’s monopoly on money creation.
• ​Currency Substitution: Increased reliance on foreign stablecoins for everyday transactions risks dollarisation (or foreign-currency substitution), marginalising the Ghana cedi. Unchecked cross-border digital flows can complicate capital controls and exacerbate exchange rate volatility.
• ​Monetary Policy Effectiveness: If a significant share of economic value is stored and transacted outside the domestic banking system, the central bank’s interest rate levers lose transmission potency.

The IMF has raised all of these concerns about Nigeria and its widespread use of dollar-pegged stablecoins. Nigeria’s crypto adoption was initially propelled by the rapid currency devaluation and people turning to stablecoins as a way to protect their savings from devaluation.

While the use case has grown beyond that, the high adoption of dollar-pegged stablecoins remains. 

Stablecoins can function either as payment infrastructure or as foreign-currency stores of value—stablecoins as payment infrastructure offer undeniable speed and cost efficiencies for cross-border trade. However, using foreign-pegged tokens as domestic savings vehicles creates severe problems for monetary management.

The Bank of Ghana’s forthcoming directive could help it avoid the same concerns, especially if it separates transactional utility from currency-substitution risks.

Ghana Wants to Balance Innovation with Financial Stability

Despite its concerns about stablecoins, the bank has refused to take a prohibitive stance. Instead, the bank said it will adopt a more balanced regulatory stance. “This does not call for heavy-handed regulation,” he said. “Not all virtual asset activities present the same risks, and our approach must reflect their nature, scale and complexity.”

He said the Bank’s responsibility for price stability and financial-system soundness grows with technological change, and that the approach must rest on consumer and investor protection, safeguarding customer assets, financial integrity, and strong links with traditional finance.

The Governor also highlighted Ghana’s history with mobile money adoption as proof that it can adopt financial technology at scale. This level of innovation, however, “must support, rather than undermine, monetary and financial stability and confidence in the Ghana cedi.”

The VASP Act is the foundation, not the finish line

The upcoming Stablecoin Directive does not exist in a vacuum; it builds upon the legislative foundation established by the VASP Act. Act 1154 established a dedicated legal framework with coordinated oversight by the Bank of Ghana and the SEC. Asiama stressed that “legislation is only the beginning.” The real test, he said, is turning the law into a credible and enforceable framework that gives responsible firms and investors certainty.

To achieve this, the Bank of Ghana is actively collaborating with the SEC and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), supported by the newly inaugurated Virtual Assets Coordinating Committee.

Tokenisation and Broader Economic Benefits

Asiama also spoke on the summit’s core theme of tokenisation. He spoke on tokenisation’s transformative potential for the wider economy. “By representing ownership of, or rights to, assets such as securities, commodities and trade receivables in digital form, it could allow a small exporter to obtain financing earlier and at lower cost, reduce settlement times from days to minutes, and give smaller enterprises new channels for raising capital.”

​Why This Matters

For Ghana, stablecoins and virtual assets are officially part of its financial future. The country’s apex bank however, is determined to make sure their deployment aligns strictly with national monetary stability objectives. For stablecoin issuers, crypto exchanges, and Web3 payment firms, the upcoming Bank of Ghana directive will serve as a definitive compliance benchmark. The critical thing to watch will be how regulators draw the line between permitted payment utilities and restricted foreign-currency stores of value.