This guide is not about whether to buy crypto. It is about the people in Ghana who already hold some - and lose it, not to the market, but to a stolen phone, a SIM swap, a fake app, or a death nobody planned for.
Remember first what the law gives you: under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025, crypto businesses must be licensed, but when this was written the Bank of Ghana listed none. If an exchange fails or freezes your account, there is no Ghanaian regulator to complain to.
On an exchange, or in your own wallet
| On an exchange | In your own wallet | |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds the keys | The exchange | You |
| If you forget your password | The exchange can let you back in | Only your seed phrase can |
| If the exchange fails or freezes you | Your crypto is stuck | Not affected |
| If you lose the seed phrase | Not relevant | Gone, for good |
Neither is safe by default. An exchange is a company that can fail, be hacked or close your account. Your own wallet puts the whole job of security on you.
The seed phrase is the money
A self-custody wallet gives you a list of twelve or twenty-four words. Anyone who has those words has your crypto, from anywhere in the world, and nobody can reverse it.
- Write it on paper, and keep it somewhere safe from fire and water.
- Never photograph it, email it, put it in WhatsApp, Google Drive or your notes app. Phones are stolen in Accra every day, and cloud accounts are taken over by SIM swap.
- No real support agent ever asks for it. Every “Binance support”, “wallet validation” or “sync your wallet” message asking for the phrase is a theft.
- Download wallets only from the official site or store, and check the developer’s name. Fake wallet apps exist to collect seed phrases.
SIM swap, and your phone number
In Ghana a phone number is often the key to an exchange account, your email and your MoMo. A SIM swap - a criminal getting your number moved to their SIM - can unlock all three.
- Use an authenticator app for two-factor sign-in, not SMS codes.
- Put a PIN on your SIM and on the network account.
- If your phone suddenly loses signal and you did not move, call your network from another phone at once.
P2P trades
Most Ghanaians buy and sell crypto peer to peer, paying a stranger by MoMo or bank transfer. The risks are specific:
- Release crypto only when the money is in your account - check the wallet or the bank app, never a screenshot or an SMS, which are easily faked.
- Stolen money can freeze your account. If the cedis you receive came from a fraud, your MoMo or bank account can be frozen while it is investigated. Trade with counterparties with long histories, and keep records.
- Stay on the platform. A trader who asks to finish the deal on WhatsApp is removing the one protection you have.
If you die
Crypto in a wallet nobody else can open does not pass to your family. It is lost. Ghanaian inheritance law applies to it like any other property, but the law cannot open a wallet.
- Write down what you hold and where - which exchanges, which wallets. Not the seed phrase itself in the same note.
- Decide how a trusted person will reach the seed phrase when they need to: a sealed envelope with your will, or with a lawyer.
- Make a will. Without one, your estate is distributed under the intestate succession law, and your family must first know the crypto exists.
Tax
Keep a record of every purchase and sale, in cedis, with the date. The Ghana Revenue Authority will tax crypto income and gains, and when the 2025 Act was passed the rates had not been set.