Ghana drafts stablecoin rules as Canada consults on its own: what corridor payment firms face

By the Citi Sighs Intelligence Desk — Toronto, November 5, 2026

TORONTO — The Bank of Ghana is preparing a stablecoin directive that will set requirements for stablecoin activity in the country, Governor Johnson Pandit Asiama told the Africa Virtual Assets Summit in Accra on Nov. 2. Nine days earlier, Ottawa published draft regulations under its Stablecoin Act that would require issuers to redeem tokens within three business days and cap redemption fees at 1%.

For Canadian fintechs, remittance firms and software vendors that move money into Ghana or Nigeria, and for West African payment firms eyeing Canada, the rules at both ends of the corridor are being written at the same time. None of them is final. Canada is taking comments for 60 days from Oct. 24, which runs to about Dec. 23; Ghana has not yet published a draft.

What changed in Ghana

In his published remarks, Asiama said the directive would spell out the rules for stablecoin activity and make clear what is permitted. He gave no date. He said the central bank is building the rules and supervision with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Intelligence Centre, a point Citi Newsroom also reported.

• Status: announced and in development; not yet law. Canada's Act is passed, but its regulations are only proposed.
• Legal base: the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154), under which the Bank of Ghana and the SEC regulate virtual assets jointly. A Virtual Assets Coordinating Committee of public agencies is in place.
• The concern: Asiama warned that stablecoins, "particularly those denominated in foreign currencies," could weaken the central bank's control over money, encourage people to swap cedis for other currencies, and move capital in and out of the country.

The governor also said mobile money handled more than one billion transactions worth about GH₵519 billion in August 2026.

What Canada has proposed

The Stablecoin Act was passed in Bill C-15, which received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026. The Bank of Canada says it will register non-bank issuers, supervise them and enforce the rules. Finance Canada's draft regulations, published in Canada Gazette Part I on Oct. 24, would:

• require redemption within three business days, with no minimum amount, and cap redemption fees at 1% of the amount redeemed;
• bar interest or yield for holding a stablecoin, while allowing rewards tied only to using it;
• require reserves worth at least the tokens outstanding at the end of each day, held in deposits, government debt maturing within three months, one-business-day reverse repos backed by such debt, or money market funds made up of those assets, and bar pledging those reserves;
• limit reserve custodians to entities incorporated in Canada;
• cover foreign as well as domestic non-bank issuers that issue in Canada, though the Bank's governor may exempt an issuer whose home rules are judged substantially similar;
• charge issuers annual fees: a C$25,000 base fee below C$500 million outstanding, C$350,000 plus a share of costs from C$500 million, and C$750,000 plus a larger share from C$1 billion.

The Gazette notice says the intention is for the regulations to take effect in fall 2027. In May, Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers told senators they could be launched by mid or late 2027.

Nigeria's track

In July 2025, SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama said Nigeria welcomes stablecoin firms that accept rules protecting its markets, and that the Investments and Securities Act 2025 gives the SEC powers over stablecoins and crypto assets, Nairametrics reported. SEC Circular 26-1, dated Jan. 16, 2026, raised minimum capital for digital-asset operators and some fintechs, with compliance due by June 30, 2027, according to law firm Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie.

What it means in practice

• A firm issuing a Canadian- or US-dollar token to Canadians would need to be on the Bank of Canada's registry and meet the reserve and redemption rules once they take effect.
• A firm using third-party stablecoins to settle payouts in Ghana faces an open question: Asiama singled out foreign-currency tokens, and the directive's treatment of them is not yet known.
• Digital-asset operators covered by Circular 26-1 in Nigeria have until June 30, 2027 to meet the revised capital levels.

What to watch next

• Canada: comments close around Dec. 23; then final regulations and an order setting the start date.
• Ghana: a draft directive, and whether the Bank of Ghana opens it for public comment.
• Nigeria: further SEC digital-asset rules before the June 2027 capital deadline.

The case for and against

The case for: written rules at both ends of the corridor reduce legal uncertainty, which may make banks more willing to serve fintechs that use stablecoins. Ghanaian firms get a home-grown rulebook, and Asiama said rules should match the risk of each activity rather than treat all of it alike.

The case against: compliance costs fall hardest on small firms, and Canada's local-custody rule and fee tiers add cost for foreign issuers unless they win an exemption. In Ghana, limits on foreign-currency tokens could narrow a settlement route some cross-border firms use, and affect households, freelancers and traders who hold dollar tokens. The Bank of Ghana frames its caution as protecting monetary policy, a goal central banks in all three countries share. The timetables also do not line up, so firms may face different rules at each end for a year or more.

What we could not verify

• No draft or timeline for the Bank of Ghana directive has been published.
• Whether the Bank of Canada's supervisory role is already in effect: DLA Piper says it took effect on March 26, while the Bank's own page uses the future tense.
• The naira capital amounts in SEC Circular 26-1, which did not appear in the text we read, and SEC Nigeria's own digital-asset rules page, which did not load.
• The Central Bank of Nigeria's current position on stablecoins; we found no recent official statement.

Disclosure: Citi Sighs has no commercial relationship with any company or institution named in this article. This article is general information, not tax, legal or investment advice.