Central Bank of Ghana will make government cryptocurrency available offline

The central bank of the West African state of Ghana will make digital cedi available offline. Thus, more residents of the country will be able to use financial instruments.

According to Bloomberg, the Ghanaian government plans to make the digital currency of the central bank autonomous. Kwame Oppong, head of financial technology and innovation at the Bank of Ghana, said the country’s digital currency will be powered by smart cards.

During a speech at the Ghanaian Economic Forum, Oppong said that for people without access to bank accounts, digital currency may be the optimal solution. Particularly because digital media can be used without an internet connection.

“The availability of financial instruments is limited by the availability of communications and electricity costs. We hope that we will be among the first to make digital currency autonomous, ”he said.

According to the World Bank, as of 2019, only about half of Ghana’s population had access to the Internet, and 84% had access to electricity. The Bank of Ghana had planned to release the digital currency from 2019, and announced the start of testing last month.

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