Dealing in bitcoin not a crime - Cryptocurrency operators

Cryptocurrency operators have said transacting bitcoin business is not illegal in Ghana, but have cautioned the citizenry to understand how it works before they invest in it.

This comes on the heels of the Bank of Ghana’s caution to the public against the use of digital currency like bitcoin. The BoG in a statement said transacting business activities in digital currency under the Payments System Act 200 has not been licensed.

Reacting to this development in an interview with Class Business, Co-founder of Crypto-Ghana, Bernard Owusu-Mensah, said although the BoG’s caution is in a right direction, it is not against the law to deal in bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.

He said: “[The caution] is a step in the right direction in the case that this is something new and a lot of people are doing it [but] for now we don’t have any legislation in Ghana that tells me that dealing in bitcoin is a crime. The law doesn’t stipulate that. So if I have bitcoin, BoG cannot cause my arrest.

“What BoG is telling us is that ‘we have not fully understood the thing, we’ll come back later to give a directive to that effect.’ That doesn’t mean that transacting bitcoin business in Ghana is illegal and it warrants let’s say a penalty unit of 400 basis points or anything. Nobody can go to prison for transacting business in bitcoin…the public also who transact business in cryptocurrency have not committed any criminal offense.”