By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it is collaborating with the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) to pilot innovative financial products involving gold-backed securities and tokenised gold assets. The strategy is to grow Ghana’s capital market and deepen performance and efficiency in emerging financial technologies.
The announcement follows the SEC’s admission of 11 companies into its regulatory sandbox to pilot virtual asset and financial technology products under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025.
Deputy Director-General for Finance at the SEC, Mr. Mensah Thompson, said the collaboration forms part of a regulatory framework being developed to support emerging financial technologies linked to gold.
He noted that under the new framework, the Gold Board will serve as the custodian of the gold underlying the securities, taking responsibility for assaying, verification, and vaulting of the commodity while providing periodic reports to the SEC.
The initiative is expected to support the development of gold-backed financial instruments, including derivatives and tokenised gold products, within Ghana’s capital market. As part of the programme, GoldBod will pilot a gold tokenisation project through a special purpose vehicle to enable regulators to test the concept and develop appropriate guidelines for the issuance and trading of tokenised gold assets.
The pilot program will provide regulators with practical insights into how digital assets linked to physical commodities can be integrated into Ghana’s financial system while maintaining transparency and investor protection.
The initiative is also expected to explore new ways of leveraging Ghana’s gold resources to attract investment and expand financial innovation in the country’s capital market.
With the sandbox programme, SEC says the pilot will run for 12 months, allowing participating firms to test their services in a controlled regulatory environment while the Commission evaluates risks and finalises licensing rules for the sector.
The firms admitted into the sandbox are: Africoin, Blu Penguin, GoldBod, HanyPay, Hyro Exchange GH Ltd, HSB Global, KoinKoin, Whitebit, Vaulta, XChain, and BSystem Ltd.
