The Bank of Ghana Looking to Consider Digital Currency
By Jamie Green – Cryptocurrency Investor
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has recently considered the release of a digital version of their national currency known as E-cedi, as detailed on BitcoinKE The concept is much like countries that have considered developing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for citizens to buy and sell cryptocurrency native to the chain for everyday purchases.
Governor of BoG, Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison, spoke during the 23rd National Banking Conference:
“The Bank of Ghana is in discussion with key stakeholders to explore a pilot project (in a sandbox environment) on central bank digital currency with the possibility of issuing an e-Cedi in the near future.”
Addison believes that a great opportunity can be created from the digitalisation of financial services and can scale to help grant financial access for Ghana. With the introduction of a CBDC, any citizen would be able to buy and sell cryptocurrency for daily transactions.
In the first half of 2019 alone, Ghana's digital payment space has experienced enormous growth with over 140 billion Ghana Cedis transacting over mobile payment systems. This is a 34% increase in transaction volumes from the previous year suggesting a great opportunity to increase efficiency with the introduction of a token. Citizens would be able to buy crypto native on this chain to use for everyday transactions at reduced costs and greater efficiency.
Other stats of the Ghana economy that resulted in this development include:
34% YoY growth
3.3M bank cheques down from 3.6M YoY
140B Cedis transacted in via mobile payment Q1 and Q2 of 2019
This move shouldn't come as a surprise to many Ghanaian banks. According to the Chartered Institute of Bankers President, Patricia Sappor said:
“Some banks have recorded over 80% of their transactions emanating from these digital and electronic channels.” Sappor went on to commend the interest in leveraging emerging technology such as Data Mining, Robotic, Blockchain, AI and possibly even Cryptocurrencies.
Although the introduction of a Ghanaian digital currency is a move in the right path, there are still plenty of regulatory concerns to be addressed around the country's banking system before releases the project on a grand scale.
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