MP calls on parliament to capture cryptocurrency in Ghana’s financial law

Member of Parliament for Juabeng, Ms Ama Pomaa Boateng, has proposed to Parliament to, as a matter of urgency, to pass a law to incorporate cryptocurrency into Ghana’s financial sector.

According to the MP there was an urgent need for members of the house to expand their knowledge and pioneer legislation that would recognize the block-chain technology and virtual currency which had become a game changer.

Making the statement on the floor of Parliament, Ama Pomaa Boateng said the virtual currency would offer several benefits to the economy and change the way Ghanaians banked and made financial transactions.

She continued that cryptocurrency is a completely virtual currency that uses block-chain technology and cryptography for security, making counterfeiting difficult.

According to her, in the absence of legislation, the government could set up a register and possibly an exchange platform for service providers of cryptocurrency to enable the government to oversee those virtual currency activities and create a stable regulatory environment where it could thrive.

“The cryptocurrency market is evolving with enormous speed, but neither the government nor the Bank of Ghana backs it. Governments use central banks to issue or destroy money by using its monetary policy to exert economic influence,” she said.

Ms Boateng said the government could take the lead in regulating cryptocurrency, while Parliament went through the processes of passing a law for same.

The MP asserted that the presence of cryptocurrency in the economy had revolutionised local and international payment systems and Ghana needed to pay attention to it.

She added that the most commonly known example was the Bitcoin which had become a decentralised digital currency worldwide payment system that worked without a central bank or single administrator.

Mr Speaker, the cryptocurrency is created in cyberspace where ‘miners’ or users use the power of their computers to solve complex algorithms that serve as verification for transactions and their reward is payment with cyber currency, which is stored digitally and passed between buyers and sellers without the need for an intermediary like our central bank,” she said.