The Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana (SEC) has launched the Africa Virtual Asset Summit (AVAS) 2026, a two-day gathering to be held on 2 and 3 November 2026 at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra. The summit, themed “Tokenisation: Africa’s Pathway Towards Building a Trusted, Inclusive and Innovative Virtual Asset Ecosystem,” aims to deliver practical outcomes, including the proposed Accra Declaration — a framework of shared principles and recommendations to advance responsible virtual asset and tokenisation ecosystems across the continent.
Africa's participation in virtual assets is already significant, but regulators need to establish clear, consistent, and credible rules surrounding that activity. Director-General of the SEC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, noted that Africa's growth in virtual assets must be matched by frameworks that promote innovation, protect investors, and maintain confidence in the market. Ghana has put such a framework in place with the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154), which establishes the legal foundation for supervised growth of the sector.
The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act assigns the Commission responsibility for tokenisation, virtual asset issuance, exchanges, investment advisory services, and virtual asset funds. The Commission also operates a regulatory sandbox that allows firms to test products under supervision before full licensing, ensuring that rules are informed by practical experience. This framework is expected to unlock capital for African assets, such as land, gold, cocoa, trade receivables, and infrastructure, by enabling assets to be held in smaller digital interests.
Tokenisation can broaden the investor base, lower the cost of capital, and make projects financeable that would otherwise remain inaccessible. For Ghana, this opens a pathway to connect domestic and diaspora investors with productive assets and gives businesses an additional route to raise finance. AVAS 2026 will examine how to achieve this with trust and investor protection built in from the outset. The summit will also generate policy recommendations, structured dialogue between supervisors and market participants, industry collaboration, and cross-border partnerships.
Virtual assets move freely across borders, and regulation must be able to do the same. Deputy Director-General Emmanuel Mensah Thompson stated that the Commission will use AVAS 2026 to advance continental alignment on licensing, supervision, and market rules. He cited a recent example where Ghanaian investors seeking to participate in a trans-African annuity product were required to route transactions through Canada due to regulatory constraints at home.
Regulatory peers share the view that no single regulator can supervise the virtual asset market alone. Emomotimi Agama, Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, observed that virtual assets do not respect borders. International partners, including Ghana's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Her Excellency Sabah Zita Benson, are also engaging and calling for partnerships that move beyond policy discussion into investment and technology transfer.
The two-day summit will feature keynote addresses, regulatory panels, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities. Participants will examine digital asset infrastructure, custody, payment rails, digital identity, and compliance technology. The programme is expected to feature more than 40 speakers, with participants from more than 30 countries and over 2,000 attendees. Delegates will gain first-hand insight into emerging regulation, compare international best practice, explore tokenisation opportunities, and engage directly with regulators and investors.
Key points
- The Africa Virtual Asset Summit 2026 aims to advance responsible virtual asset and tokenisation ecosystems across the continent.
- The summit will generate policy recommendations, structured dialogue between supervisors and market participants, industry collaboration, and cross-border partnerships.
- The proposed Accra Declaration will provide a framework of shared principles and recommendations for responsible virtual asset and tokenisation ecosystems.
