Crypto in Africa: Ghana moves up a gear
The $21 billion figure requires an immediate clarification: it is neither the size of Ghana’s crypto market capitalization nor $21 billion held in wallets in the country. It is an estimate of annual transaction volume.
This acceleration follows a trend already visible when BrefCrypto examined the regulation of more than 3 million crypto users in Ghana. The Bank of Ghana itself estimates that the ecosystem now has more than three million users.
The IMF now places the adoption rate between 8% and 17% of the population—a broad range that highlights how difficult the activity remains to measure when some transactions take place through foreign platforms, private wallets or P2P channels.
The regional ranking is consistent with data previously recorded by Chainalysis. Between July 2024 and June 2025, Nigeria led by a wide margin, with more than $92.1 billion received on-chain, followed by South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and then Ghana.
However, the IMF’s $21 billion figure should not be compared directly with older Chainalysis data without caution: the periods, sources and estimation methods are not necessarily identical.
Stablecoins are growing faster than payments
The IMF report provides particularly useful insight into how crypto is actually being used.
Stablecoins are expanding rapidly in Ghana, but their main role remains trading and protection against inflation. Cross-border settlements are also increasing, particularly in informal or semi-formal activities. By contrast, their use for retail remittances remains limited.
That is an important distinction.
The growth of USDT or USDC does not yet mean that stablecoins have replaced Western Union, mobile money or banks for family transfers. For many users, the digital dollar is primarily a way to preserve value more reliably or to enter and exit the crypto market.
This development places Ghana on the same path as several African economies where stablecoins are gradually becoming settlement rails. BrefCrypto has already shown how DCS Pay and Kotani Pay aim to connect USDT and USDC to local currencies and mobile money across six African markets, including Ghana.
The country is also testing more sophisticated use cases. Tokenization remains limited according to the IMF, but Accra is already testing gold and other real-world assets in its sandboxes. Ghana is preparing an experimental tokenized gold market with GoldBod, Ghana Commodity Exchange and Africoin.
Trading, saving, payments and tokenization are therefore beginning to overlap.
Regulation must now catch up with the market
That is the paradox: the market has already reached a considerable size while the regulatory framework is still taking shape.
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, Act 1154, now provides the legal basis for the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission to oversee exchanges, wallets, stablecoins, investment platforms and other service providers.
The full regime is due to come into operation in December 2026.
However, the IMF considers several elements to be underdeveloped. In particular, it is calling for more precise rules covering trading, brokerage, lending, custody and stablecoins, as well as better coordination between the central bank and the SEC.
The Fund is not criticizing the direction taken by Accra. It considers the existing rules broadly aligned with international standards, but not yet comprehensive enough to oversee such a dynamic market.
The timeline is becoming tight.
More than three million users, dozens of service providers already identified, rapidly growing stablecoins and approximately $21 billion in estimated annual transactions: Ghana is no longer a small crypto market that authorities can observe from a distance.
The question is therefore no longer whether Accra should regulate digital assets. That decision has been made.
The challenge now is to bring an already massive market into the regulatory framework without disrupting the use cases that have driven its adoption in the first place.
