The Bank of Ghana has been rolling out offline tests of its upcoming CBDC in markets and towns within the country where it has gained several key insights on how the eCedi can benefit local people.
The testing happened in a town called Sefwi Asafo, where participants were able to buy products and services from merchants in all kinds of places without any internet connectivity.
One of the insights the Bank of Ghana picked is the eCedi will lead to user-generated data which can assist in providing loans to regular people, according to Kwame Oppong, the Director of FinTech and Innovation at Bank of Ghana.
According to Oppong, who leads the eCedi project, if people make their activity data available, they can become more eligible for loans.
Oppong spoke on the sidelines of the West Africa Money and Decentralised Finance (Defi) Summit where 50 multinational financial technology companies and 400 delegates from various financial technology companies converged in Accra, Ghana.
The CBDC would also introduce instant settlement of transactions which will bring about a cost-saving benefit when compared to the current settlement infrastructure. The official however reiterated that most countries are still learning and testing CBDCs adding that ‘we need to determine whether it’s useful for us or not.’
When it comes to other digital currencies, the official noted that one of the most attractive qualities of cryptocurrencies is its user experience, hence a lot of countries are studying blockchain technology and its potential use cases.
Oppong also indicated that stablecoins can play a strong role in enabling cross-border transactions. At the moment, Ghana is not considering regulating cryptocurrencies, said Oppong.
