Ghanaians warned not to invest in cryptocurrency

Ghana’s Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has cautioned Ghanaians to desist from investing in cryptocurrency products not licensed by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

She admitted that the BoG has issued this warning before and entreated the general public to comply.

She added that individuals who do not heed this caution should not expect the government to come to their aid if they lose their investments.

“Let’s listen to the Bank of Ghana when they issue an alert. Bitcoin is not regulated by the Bank of Ghana and, so, when you invest, you do so at your own risk. Don’t call on the government to bail you out when you lose.”

She said this on Thursday (December 12, 2018) when she took her turn at the Meet The Press series at the conference room of the Ministry of Information.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful urged Ghanaians to be wise and think through the offers made by investment companies before doing business with them.

“What can we do using technology to protect us? Currently, I’m sad to say, not much. We all have to be wise, let us use our common sense. It is not everybody who promises enormous profit who is genuine, and even that should put you on your guard. It may take a longer time to get rich but your money will be secure. If you gamble, you stand the risk of making fantastic profit or you stand the risk of losing your investment. That is an individual choice and, so, we need to be wise.”

In November 2018, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) invited two directors of a cryptocurrency investment company which allegedly scammed investors in the country.

According to EOCO exactly 109, 259 Ghanaian investors were scammed by Global Coin Community Help (GCCH.

The two GCCH directors, Kwaku Damete Kumi, and David Opatey were released on bail for allegedly swindling the investors of GHS135 million.

The cryptocurrency platform is a medium of exchange created and stored electronically in the blockchain, using encryption techniques to control the creation of monetary units and to verify the transfer of funds.

It has no physical form and exists only in the network. Its supply is not determined by the central bank and the network is completely decentralised.

The BoG had in November, said that it had not issued licences to the following companies to carry out deposit-taking activities.

They are Global Coin Community Help International Limited (GCCH), Wealth Drive Ghana Limited (WDG), Devonshire Place Capital Ghana Limited, TCL Markets Ghana Limited, FX-Crypto Traders and Sonsis Susu Services Limited.

A statement signed by the Secretary to the BoG said, “Anyone who does business with these entities does so at his or her own risk and the Bank of Ghana will not be liable for the refund of any deposit lost by a depositor.”