Ghana selects 11 crypto exchanges for SEC regulatory sandbox pilot

Ghana has selected 11 crypto trading platforms to participate in a regulatory sandbox where they will “pilot their products and services in a controlled environment under the regulatory oversight” of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Starting March 10, Africoin, Blu Penguin, Goldbod, Hanypay, Hyro Exchange, HSB Global, KoinKoin, Whitebits, Vaulta, XChain, and Bsystem will start operating under the country’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act for the next 12 months.

After the first six months, the SEC will assess which of these platforms have products and services that are market-ready and can transition to a full license to operate. Meanwhile, those that fail to meet the requirements will continue operating within the sandbox for the remaining six months.

According to the commission, the sandbox has been designed to “support responsible innovation while strengthening investor protection, market integrity, and compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.”

Data accumulated during this pilot will help shape “future policy and licensing frameworks for virtual assets services,” it added.

The SEC plans to develop guidelines and subsequently publish them for prospective applicants to apply under the various activity-based licensing categories outlined in the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act.

Ghana’s plans to start licensing crypto platforms were first disclosed in July last year, when Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Johnson Asiama, said regulators had already begun working on a draft framework intended to bring digital asset activity under formal oversight.

“We are actually late in the game,” Asiama said at the time, referring to the growing number of Ghanaians already using cryptocurrencies for transactions despite the absence of a clear regulatory structure.

Subsequently, in December, regulators passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) bill, which established the provisions that would allow crypto trading and related digital asset services to operate legally in the country under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As one of the larger crypto markets in the region in terms of grassroots adoption, Ghana is expected to see greater migration toward regulated platforms if authorities continue shaping a more structured and industry-friendly environment. 

Earlier this month, crypto brokerage firm Blockchain.com said it had expanded operations into Ghana as part of a broader push to build digital asset infrastructure across some of the region’s fastest-growing markets.