This follows renewed attention on the country’s digital asset framework during the Ghana Virtual Assets and Financial Services Symposium held in Accra.  

Mr. Caleb Kwaku Aflago, President of Virtual Assets, Chamber of Digital Assets and Blockchain Innovation (CDABI), said blockchain-based solutions such as tokenisation could significantly improve financing options for SMEs, especially those in the commodity and extractive sectors.   

He said this during the Ghana Virtual Assets and Financial Services Symposium held in Accra on last week.  

He noted that small?scale miners often struggled to obtain fair financing due to limited collateral and lack of formal documentation.  

Mr Aflago explained that through traceability and asset verification enabled by blockchain, miners could tokenise verified reserves and use them to raise funds at more competitive rates.  

He said traceable gold attracted better value on the international market, and tokenisation could give local miners a more equitable opportunity to participate in larger transactions.   

That model could also be applied to other sectors, including agriculture and general trading businesses, allowing SMEs to access capital without relying on high interests.  

Mr Aflago said Ghana’s recent regulatory progress, particularly the passage of the Virtual Asset Act (Act 1154), had created a more enabling environment for responsible innovation.   

He commended the Bank of Ghana, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Intelligence Centre for adopting a “collaborative approach” with industry players.  

Mr Aflago emphasised that public confidence in the digital asset space would depend on education and professional training.  

He said CDABI, in partnership with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), had introduced a four?tier certification programme aimed at improving competence among people entering the virtual asset industry.   

The initiative, he noted, would help the public better understand how digital assets worked and reduced vulnerabilities associated with misinformation.  

Mr Aflago highlighted the relevance of the Bank of Ghana’s regulatory sandbox, which provided a supervised environment for innovators to test blockchain solutions before commercial rollout.  

 He said the sandbox would help the regulator assess whether new products were safe and suitable for the Ghanaian market while giving developers room to refine their technologies.  

The perception that virtual assets were primarily used for money laundering did not reflect the full potential of the technology, Mr Aflago added.  

He acknowledged the risks but stated that close collaboration between regulators and industry participants would help identify and remove bad actors to protect the integrity of the ecosystem.  

 Ghana’s approach to digital asset regulation was being tailored to its local context rather than copying frameworks from other jurisdictions, he noted.  

He added that ongoing guideline development by the SEC and the Bank of Ghana would further define the responsibilities of players in the sector and strengthen market stability.  

“Ghana’s entry into the global digital asset economy has the potential to stimulate new forms of financing, improve transparency and expand opportunities for SMEs that traditionally faced barriers to credit,” Mr Aflago said.  

He expressed optimism that continued cooperation between regulators, academic institutions and innovators would support the country’s transition into a more inclusive digital financial landscape.