President Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has signed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Bill into Law.
This followed the passage of the VASP bill by Parliament after a rigorous consideration process.
This was announced by Acting Deputy Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mensah Thompson in a statement on his Facebook page, Tuesday December 30.
The Bill among other things legalizes the usage, trading and provision of service in the virtual assets (including cryptocurrencies) space.
“The SEC and the Bank of Ghana wishes to congratulate His Excellency the President, The Minister for Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Director General of the SEC for their foresight in moving Ghana an inch closer towards the next phase of global finance and inclusion.
“Special thanks to VASP market operators including the big exchanges and traders who made immense contributions towards the bill and most important to the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament the Hon Isaac Adongo for his enormous directions and support through out the legislation process.
“And lastly to the Minority in Parliament for lending a bi-partisan support for this bill and also to the incredible staff at the SEC and Bank of Ghana who worked day and night to produce this solid regulatory framework for the Country,” Mr Mensah Thompson said.
SEC had announced a list of Virtual Asset Services to be licensed and regulated under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act.
Parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPS) Bill.
The Bill outlines the legal and regulatory framework for regulating Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers in Ghana. The relevant regulatory authorities are the Bank of Ghana, the Securities and Exchange Commission and any other regulatory body prescribed by the Minister of Finance. All persons and entities conducting virtual asset activities will need to be licensed or officially registered by the SEC or the Bank of Ghana, based on their activity.
The SEC and the Bank of Ghana will issue guidelines and other regulatory instruments to operationalise the Act.
A statement issued by SEC said that, for the avoidance of doubt, the SEC shall license and regulate the following Virtual Asset Services under the Act.
- Virtual Asset Exchanges
- Virtual Asset Trading Platforms
- Virtual Asset Issuance
- Virtual Asset Tokenization
- Virtual Asset Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
- Virtual Asset Managers
- Virtual Asset Investment Advisor
- Virtual Asset Brokerage
- Virtual Asset Advocacy (On Securities)
- Virtual Asset Mining and Validation (On Securities)
- Virtual Asset Sandbox (On Securities)
“The SEC assures the general and investing public of its continued diligence and unwavering commitment to fostering a safe, efficient, fair, and transparent virtual asset ecosystem in which investors are protected, and market integrity is upheld,” the statement said.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
