Selorm Branttie: 3.4m Ghanaians involved in Cryptocurrency transactions

Vice President for Innovation and Technology at IMANI Africa, Selorm Branttie, has revealed that an estimated 3.4 million Ghanaians—representing about 17% of the adult population—are currently engaged in cryptocurrency trading or transactions.

Speaking at the MoMo Fintech Stakeholder Forum on Wednesday, October 15, Mr. Branttie described the surge in crypto activity as both a sign of technological adoption and a potential challenge to the country’s financial ecosystem.

“There are 3.4 million Ghanaians who are doing crypto. We’re talking about 17% of adults running crypto or trading in crypto, or doing crypto transactions. 17% of adults now is just the beginning, because we’re talking about a population pyramid, where most young people are being introduced to run this system,” he said, adding that the figure is only the beginning, given Ghana’s youthful population.

He noted that most young people are already embedded in the Mobile Money ecosystem and rarely use traditional banking platforms.

This shift, he warned, has created an unregulated crypto market estimated to be worth about GH¢3 billion annually.

According to Mr. Branttie, the lack of regulation means Ghana may be losing significant potential revenue that could otherwise support fintech innovation and financial sector development.

“Most of these young people from the get-go are already embedded in the Mobile Money ecosystem and would not usually use the traditional banking platforms as we know them. What that means is that you have an annual GHC3 billion market opportunity that is being lost to that crypto sector or that sector because it’s unregulated.

He added, “That means that the amount of revenue that could have gone towards some of the new innovations the Fintech could have had is being lost or is not being tracked well. As the years go by, these numbers will increase.”