Virtual assets could make diaspora remittances faster, cheaper – Asiama

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama, says Ghana could reduce the cost and time involved in receiving diaspora remittances and making cross-border payments through the adoption of virtual asset infrastructure.

He said emerging  financial technologies offered opportunities to address longstanding weaknesses in Africa’s payment systems, particularly the high cost of transactions and delays in moving money across borders.

“Virtual asset infrastructure could make remittances from our diaspora faster and cheaper,” Dr Asiama said at the African Virtual Assets Summit (AVAS) 2026 in Accra on Monday, November 2.

He also highlighted opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), where payments between neighbouring economies are often slow, costly and routed through third currencies.

Dr Asiama said digital settlements could help address these inefficiencies and make trade and investment across African markets easier.

He further identified tokenisation as an emerging opportunity to expand access to financing, particularly for small businesses and exporters.

Tokenisation involves representing ownership of or rights to assets such as securities, commodities and trade receivables in digital form, potentially creating new avenues for businesses to raise capital and access funding.

“It could allow a small exporter to obtain financing earlier and at lower cost, reduce settlement times from days to minutes and give smaller enterprises new channels for raising capital,” he said.

However, Dr Asiama stressed that realising these opportunities would depend on a credible regulatory framework that protects consumers and investors while providing certainty for businesses operating in the sector.

He said the passage of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154), marked an important step towards establishing the legal foundation for virtual asset activities in Ghana.

“Legislation is only the beginning and the real test will be translating the law into a credible and enforceable framework,” he said.