SEC Admits GoldBod, 10 Others into Regulatory Sandbox

Eleven virtual asset service providers, including GoldBod, have been admitted into the regulatory sandbox under the regulatory oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a pilot exercise.

It comes after the Commission formalised its regulatory sandbox framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).

In a statement, it explained that the regulatory sandbox period will last for 12 twelve months.

“After the first six months of the 12 months, VASPs, whose products and services are market-ready and have complied with all regulatory requirements, may be transitioned to their respective activity-based license/registration.

“VASPs whose product and services are NOT market-ready within the first six (6) months may be allowed to continue the pilot of their product for the remaining six months.”

This sandbox period, it said, aims to support responsible innovation while strengthening investor protection, market integrity, and compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.

It intends to leverage the experience from the pilot for future policy and licensing frameworks for virtual asset services.

“This will enable the SEC to gather data to develop Guidelines for the various activity-based licensing categories. The SEC shall publish these Guidelines and open up the space for licensing/registration for all VASPs to apply to be licensed under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154).”

Among the virtual asset service providers partaking in the pilot programme are Africoin, Blu Penguin, GoldBod, Hanypay, Hyro Exchange Gh Ltd, Hsb Global, Koinkoin, Whitebit, Vaulta, Xchain and Bsystem Ltd.

Story by Hajara Fuseini

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