Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission told delegates at the 3i Africa Summit in Accra this week that the Virtual Asset Act, 2025 (Act 1154), is currently being implemented.
- Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission told delegates at the 3i Africa Summit in Accra this week that the Virtual Asset...
- The Act now places Ghana ahead of South Africa and Kenya in enforcement, despite being the third African country to...
- Registration is required, and failure to comply may result in sanctions or disqualification from future licensing.
- Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman announced that Ghana will partner with Rwanda, Zambia, and other African countries to pilot a continental digital...
Keep reading for the full breakdown on 3i Africa Summit — everything you need to know is covered below.
The Act now places Ghana ahead of South Africa and Kenya in enforcement, despite being the third African country to pass a virtual asset law.
SEC Deputy Director-General of Operations Mensah Thompson, speaking at the summit, confirmed the law was approved by the President on December 24, 2025, and described it as “one of the most important legal frameworks introduced in the country’s financial industry.”
What does the Ghana virtual asset law mean
The Act moves virtual assets from a grey zone into a supervised, rules-based market, defining who can operate, under what licence, with what controls, and with which regulator watching.
Oversight is shared between the Bank of Ghana and the SEC, with responsibility determined by the nature of the virtual asset activity involved.
Ghana recorded over US$10 billion in cryptocurrency transactions as of November 2025, up from roughly US$6 billion in 2024. That volume made early enforcement a priority for regulators.
The Bank of Ghana stated on March 5 this year that all virtual asset service providers operating within Ghana’s jurisdiction must register with the Bank, including firms that serve Ghanaian residents through digital platforms, as reported by Techpression.
Registration is required, and failure to comply may result in sanctions or disqualification from future licensing.
Also, on February 20, the Bank of Ghana and the SEC issued a joint directive ordering all virtual asset service providers to stop advertising their products to the public.
Providers, including those operating within the sandbox, were directed to take down billboards and all mass marketing materials within 48 hours, with regulators warning of severe sanctions for non-compliance.
The sandbox licensing guidelines 2026
The Securities Industry Regulatory Sandbox Licensing Guidelines 2026, issued on March 9, supersede 2020-era rules and create a formal Virtual Asset Sandbox Track for firms dealing in crypto, tokenisation, distributed ledger technology, and decentralised systems.
The sandbox categories include virtual asset exchanges and trading platforms; virtual asset issuance; tokenisation; exchange-traded funds; managers; brokerage and investment advisory; and mining and validation. Lessons from the pilot phase will inform the SEC’s future licensing frameworks for virtual assets.
At the same summit, Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman announced that Ghana will partner with Rwanda, Zambia, and other African countries to pilot a continental digital trade corridor covering cross-border payments, digital identity verification, and electronic invoicing.
Ghana’s virtual asset law provides the regulatory foundation required by cross-border initiatives.
What you need to know
Ghana is not experimenting with crypto regulation; it is enforcing it. The Virtual Asset Act, 2025 (Act 1154) is already producing real consequences for businesses operating in the digital asset space across Africa.
Every crypto firm serving Ghanaian residents, including foreign digital platforms, must register with either the Bank of Ghana or the SEC. No registration, no licence. No licence, no legal right to operate.
Advertising is now a regulated activity. Companies that mounted billboards promoting crypto products in Accra were ordered to pull them down within 48 hours or face severe sanctions. That order covered even firms already inside the regulatory sandbox.
Influencers and public figures promoting virtual assets without the SEC’s or the Bank of Ghana’s approval are operating illegally under Act 1154. The law treats crypto advocacy the same way it treats crypto trading; it requires authorisation.
Ghana’s crypto market crossed US$10 billion in transactions in 2025. Regulators are not moving slowly because the market is small. They are moving fast because it is not.
South Africa and Kenya were the first to pass their frameworks. Ghana passed its third and is enforcing it first.
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