Cryptocurrency is ringing a bell even in a country like Ghana, but all for the wrong reasons. Owing to the lack of cryptocurrency regulation in the country, investors hardly know how to deal with cybercriminals. In recent news, it was flashed how 110,000 Ghanaian investors were siphoned off $25.71 million of crypto investments. The culprits took advantage of the non-traceability of the cryptocurrency and are considered to have escaped the legal system of the country.
In this context, a 43-year old member of Parliament for Juaben town in Ghana, Amaa Pomaa Boateng insisted that there be strict regulations pertaining to Cryptocurrency in order to avoid such mishappenings in the future. Citing the notorious Global Coin Community scam of 2018 when GHC 134 million was swindled from 109, 259 Ghanaians. The scammers had a lucrative proposal of increasing the money by 27% every month for a year. They, however, ran away after they had gathered enough Cryptocurrency tokens.
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Ghana’s securities and the trading commission is weighing its option of building laws surrounding the Cryptocurrency since this form of exchange has not been legalized in Ghana. This is because the decentralized method is believed to be building up a threat to the financial system in Ghana. Another challenge that is stopping the committee from taking any action is a lack of knowledge. Neither the legislators nor the people of Ghana are aware of the pros and cons of digital money. The former, therefore, focuses on criminalizing it and the latter is drawn to the lucrative benefits that digital money has to offer to them.
The MPs, therefore unite in asking people not to invest in Cryptocurrency to avoid being swindled off money. As history would have it, during the 2018 scam, the then SEC’s deputy general Paulo Abadio refused to aid the victims of the Global Coin Community Scam.
The skepticism among the legislators continues to grow with the increasing cases of Crypto-related cybercrime across the world. For instance, Abadio said, “When you choose to go there, you are on your own.” He had further added that the government is doing research on digital money and will soon come up with something to protect the investors. However, things at such a scale are yet to materialize.
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Meanwhile, experts believe that instead of the Ghana government, the bank of Ghana would be in a better position to research on the topic. The lawmakers agree, saying that this would help lawmakers draft a regulation surrounding Cryptocurrency.
