Bank of Ghana Orders Banks to Cut Unauthorized USD Crypto Wallets, Hitting a Betting Deposit Route

The Bank of Ghana has ordered every regulated financial institution in the country to stop supporting unauthorized foreign-currency crypto wallets, most of them held in US dollars. The directive names crypto platforms, but it lands on a payment route Ghanaians have used to fund betting accounts outside the formal banking system.

The notice was issued on June 12, 2026, signed by Bank Secretary Aimee Vyda Quashie, and published on June 14. It instructs banks, specialized deposit-taking institutions, electronic money issuers and payment service providers to "immediately cease support for unauthorised fiat currency wallet services" offered by "crypto platforms offering foreign currency wallets, primarily denominated in United States Dollars (USD)." Those platforms, the central bank says, "have been facilitating transactions through bank transfers, payment cards, and other channels" and "have not been authorised by the Bank of Ghana to undertake such activities." The wallets fall outside the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 (Act 987) and the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723), which raises foreign-exchange control concerns because they let users hold and move dollars beyond regulatory oversight.

Institutions must discontinue any banking, card acquiring, settlement or related service that funds or operates the wallets. "Failure to comply with this directive may result in supervisory or enforcement actions," the notice states. The bank directed compliance queries to vasp@bog.gov.gh and referenced a future framework for licensed Virtual Asset Service Providers that meet the legal requirements.

A mobile-first market that runs on payment rails

Payments are the working core of Ghanaian gambling, which is why a directive aimed at crypto platforms reaches the betting sector. Ghana's online gross win reached $903.5 million in 2025, up 24% from $729.8 million in 2024, placing it on track to become Africa's fourth-largest gambling market behind Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Roughly 73 operators hold licenses from the Gaming Commission of Ghana, including Betano, Betway, 1xBet, Betika, BetPawa, Betwinner, SportyBet, MelBet and SuperBet. The regulated sports-betting segment is projected at about $87.6 million in revenue for 2025.

The audience is young and phone-bound. Ghana's population is around 34 million, 57% of it youth, and surveys cited in trade coverage put roughly 50% of the population and about 70% of youth as gambling participants, with football accounting for more than three quarters of wagers. About 70% of bets are placed on mobile phones, settled through mobile money services from MTN Mobile Money, Telecel Cash and AirtelTigo Money. That dependence on digital wallets is what makes any squeeze on a funding channel land directly on deposit flow rather than at the margins.

Liberalize, then draw a line

The directive runs against a year in which Ghana opened the sector rather than restricting it:

The scale behind the dollar-wallet question is sizable. Ghana recorded more than $10 billion in crypto transactions in the year to November 2025, up from roughly $6 billion in 2024, which is part of why the central bank is policing unlicensed dollar-denominated services rather than crypto outright. The directive separates authorized from unauthorized: registered providers stay open, the offshore USD workaround is shut.

For operators and the affiliates routing traffic to them, the directive narrows one deposit option while leaving the compliant rails intact. Mobile money from MTN, Telecel and AirtelTigo, plus crypto through registered providers, remains available; acquisition built on offshore dollar wallets now carries enforcement exposure for any Ghanaian bank or processor that touches it. Affiliates promoting crypto-deposit offers tied to unauthorized USD wallets face a channel that compliant payment partners are now instructed to drop.