A Ghanaian official projected on Thursday that virtual assets, which are digital representations of value (currency) often traded electronically, are the next frontier and, if harnessed well, would produce the next generation of technology billionaires in Africa.
Mensah Thompson, Deputy Director-General of Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said during the 3i Africa Summit on technology, digital innovation, and investments that Ghana is taking the virtual assets sphere seriously, with a new law passed last December to promote and regulate the sector.
Virtual assets include products that depend on blockchain technology. Some of these products are known as cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, stablecoins, and tokens, and CBDCs (central bank digital currencies).
These virtual assets, according to Thompson, are changing how money is organized, how ownership works, how deals are made, and how markets are set up, marking a crucial turning point that requires careful planning, flexibility, clear rules, and responsible growth.
What the market is witnessing now, the official intimated, is a fundamental shift from the traditional financial architecture to tokenized securities, digital currencies, and blockchain-enabled settlements.
The main question, therefore, is no longer whether virtual assets will influence the future of finance. The reality is already unfolding. A more consequential question is whether regulation will proactively shape this innovation or remain in a latent posture, continually adjusting to development, added the official.
“Ghana’s position on this matter is deliberate and clear. We are choosing to lead and responsibly innovate,” he added.
Despite its conservative approach to investment market regulations, the SEC, according to Thompson, recognizes the enormous prospects of innovation in the virtual assets space, with a virtual asset division created to regulate the sector in partnership with the Bank of Ghana.
“Virtual assets are going to create the next generation of global billionaires from Africa and Ghana—billionaires who did not inherit wealth bequeathed to them but who created the wealth themselves,” the official projected.
The next generation of employers, he added, “will not be the mining companies and the construction companies. The next generation of employers will be technology builders, innovators, and digital entrepreneurs. This is why the SEC is focusing on international virtual assets.
Thompson said both the SEC and the Bank of Ghana have, therefore, created sandboxes with some financial technology companies (FinTechs) and virtual asset creators already participating, hoping for full-blown implementation by the end of the year. Enditem