The past year has not been a favorable year for both investors and owners of cryptocurrency hubs in Ghana, there have been issues of fraud and investors losing a greater chunk of their investments.
The country since then has been skeptical on the use of cryptocurrency. Many have backlashed and had labeled it as a Ponzi scheme and citizens have been warned to stay off the technology.
The mainstream media in Ghana has also played a major role in the labeling of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as a Ponzi scheme. Just as the citizenry listened much to the noise of the media most of them had fallen aback and had since then decided to stay off the technology. Yet many have also gone ahead to take the risk of investing in the technology and has since then been enjoying some growth as the market is recovering from its all-time lows since December 2017.
On Wednesday 27th March 2019, during the sitting of Ghana’s parliament the Member of Parliament for the Juabeng Constituency Mrs. Ama Pomaa Boateng, made a submission to the house requesting that the Government should enact a law to incorporate cryptocurrency in the financial sector.
In her submission to the house, she made mention of a cryptocurrency project that collapsed and a tune of Ghc 135million has been lost.
“However, there are several benefits for the use of cryptocurrency can provide economically if it is properly managed with the right laws, beyond its anonymous feature cryptocurrency has the potential to change the way we bank”
She went on to say “over the last few years there has been a rush to the usage of the technology favored by the internet”.
She then went further to inform the nations parliament of other countries who are using the technology for the delivery of Public service, she said:
“UK government uses their GovCoin to improve on their social welfare delivery, Venezuela’s President Mr. Nicolas Maduro on National TV in September 2018 stated that Petro the nation’s oil-backed cryptocurrency will be used for international oil transactions in October the same year. In March this year Switzerland approved the motion for cryptocurrency regulations for the country, South Africa has established a cryptocurrency working group to make amendments in the country’s financial regulations and their taxation law.”
She then asked the members of the house to EXPAND THEIR KNOWLEDGE and pioneer legislation, THAT RECOGNISES BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND VIRTUAL CURRENCIES WHICH HAS BECOME A GAME CHANGER”.
She asked that the government of Ghana if possible in the absence of legislation should set up a register and also develop an exchange platform for the services of cryptocurrency to oversee the virtual currency activities to create a stable regulated environment for users of the technology.
Hon. Boateng Ama Pomaa is the 134th member of parliament in Ghana, she is a member of parliament on the ticket of the ruling Party the New Patriotic Party (NPP). She holds MSC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY).
Click here to watch the full presentation of her submission on the floor of parliament today: https://www.facebook.com/Parliament.of.Ghana/videos/1439037512887760/