Over 70,000 investors in Ghana have no way to access their money, reports local publication Aljazeera. This is largely due to the territory running a crackdown on its banking space.
According to the publication, 23 savings and loans companies have closed down, with a significant amount of lenders going down and fund managers as well. Essentially, this results in over $1.6 billion in local currency, the cedi, being inaccessible to its holders.
Two citizens, Bless and Isaac Boahen, are suffering from not being able to cash in their investment. “My wife was very disturbed,” says Isaac, speaking to the publication over phone. They’re waiting on around 12,000 cedis owed from an investment made. “If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone there,” he continues.
The crackdown is due to Ghana’s markets regulator examining whether or not 21 fund managers put their investors money into “illiquid assets,” which is against the rules and essentially marking those investments void. There, the local Securities and Exchange Commission is preventing these money mangers from bringing in even more money and scamming other investors.
“The harm has already been done. Assets need to be protected.” says a senior finance lecturer at the University of Ghana, Lord Mensah.
This brings into account the need for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. As you may know, Bitcoin and other digital assets don’t have any central authority in control. Instead, cryptocurrencies operate automatically, with the chances of something like the aforementioned basically nonexistent. There’s no way for a bank in control of currency to use it in illegal ways. The investor has complete say over their funds, here.
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