Key Takeaways
- Bank of Ghana announced a plan to include an offline feature in the country's proposed digital currency, "e-cedi".
- The Bank explained that the plan’s main aim is to ensure that residents without internet connection and electricity can easily use the new currency.
- The Bank of Ghana recently collaborated with a Germany-based financial company to facilitate a nationwide retail digital currency.
- Central bank data showed in 2019 that 89% of Ghanian has access to stable electricity, and 53% have access to the internet connection.
- Chainalysis reported last month that the African Cryptocurrency Market has risen by over 1200% since last year.
The African country is working to include an offline feature in its proposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to ensure that all citizens from the country's various societies can use the modern currency.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, Kwame Oppong, the head of the Bank of Ghana's (BoG) fintech and innovation department, revealed on Monday, while the Ghana Economic Forum was still in session, that the country's proposed digital currency "E-cedi" will have an offline feature that will allow people to conduct transactions without the use of the internet.
He claims that by implementing this strategy, Ghanaians who do not have access to electricity or an internet connection will enthusiastically embrace digital currency.
He explained that citizens of the country would conduct offline transactions with the help of smart cards.
A smart card is a plastic card the same size as a bank credit card that contains a chip that allows people to conduct transactions with pre-loaded amounts.
Oxfam previously attempted the same system to encourage payment for natural disaster relief using the stablecoin, Dai.
According to World Bank data, 89 percent of Ghanaians have access to reliable electricity in 2019, while about 53 percent have access to an internet connection.
The Bank of Ghana announced about two months ago that they are collaborating with the German financial firm Giesecke+Devrient to launch a digital retail currency in Ghana.
The news comes just one month after the country's Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, pleaded with African governments to consider adopting digital currencies as a means of supporting and boosting trade across African countries at the Fifth Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference in July.
Furthermore, more people in the continent are embracing decentralized virtual currencies as an analytic platform; Chainalysisin reported last month that the African Cryptocurrency Market has increased by more than 1200 percent since last year.
Will adoption and launch of Central Bank Digital Currency help crypto in Ghana?
