{
  "id": 12027521,
  "title": "Accra to convene Africa’s regulators and markets on tokenisation at AVAS 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/accra-to-convene-africas-regulators-and-markets-on-tokenisation-at-12027521",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-04T22:52:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Joy Business",
    "slug": "joy-business",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/accra-to-convene-africas-regulators-and-markets-on-tokenization-at-avas-2026/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially announced the upcoming Africa Virtual Asset Summit (AVAS) 2026, set to take place on November 2 and 3 at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra. With the theme \"Tokenisation: Africa's Pathway Towards Building a Trusted, Inclusive and Innovative Virtual Asset Ecosystem,\" AVAS 2026 aims to deliver actionable outcomes. Central to the summit's goals is the proposed Accra Declaration, a framework of shared principles and recommendations to promote responsible virtual asset and tokenisation ecosystems across the continent.\n\nDr. James Klutse Avedzi, Director-General of the SEC, emphasized the continent's existing significant participation in virtual assets. He stressed that progress must be matched with frameworks that foster innovation, protect investors, and maintain market confidence. Ghana has taken steps towards this with the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (Act 1154), which establishes the legal framework for supervised growth in the sector, including tokenisation, virtual asset issuance, exchanges, and other related activities.\n\nTokenisation, the process of converting real assets like land, gold, cocoa, trade receivables, and infrastructure into digital assets, holds immense potential for Africa. Dr. Avedzi highlighted that liquidity is value, and by enabling the investment in smaller digital interests, tokenisation can broaden the investor base, lower capital costs, and make projects financeable that would otherwise be inaccessible. This approach allows connecting domestic and diaspora investors with productive assets and provides businesses with an additional route to raise finance.\n\nAVAS 2026 aims to foster continental alignment on licensing, supervision, and market rules for virtual assets. Deputy Director-General Emmanuel Mensah Thompson noted that fragmentation in regulation can hinder economic integration. For instance, Ghanaian investors seeking to participate in a trans-African annuity product were previously forced to navigate regulatory constraints in Canada. The summit seeks to address this issue, with Ghana aspiring to lead the way in establishing a unified regulatory framework.\n\nInternational partners are also engaged in the AVAS 2026 agenda. The High Commissioner of Ghana to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sabah Zita Benson, called for partnerships that move beyond policy discussions into investment and technology transfer, combining the UK's financial-services expertise with Ghana's entrepreneurial capacity.\n\nThe two-day summit will cover various critical topics, including regulation, governance, investor protection, tokenisation, digital markets, and financial inclusion. Keynote addresses, regulatory panels, and breakout sessions will address licensing, market conduct, AML/CFT, stablecoins, supervision, cross-border payments, and more. Thematic pillars of the programme include licensing, digital securities, AML/CFT, cross-border cooperation, international standards, and tokenisation.\n\nAttendees will come from over 30 countries and more than 2,000 delegates will participate. The programme features more than 40 speakers and will explore digital asset infrastructure, custody, payment rails, digital identity, compliance technology, and other relevant areas. AVAS 2026 is a crucial meeting point for the institutions shaping responsible digital finance in Africa, inviting regulators, market participants, and partners to help shape the governance of virtual assets.",
  "summary": "Under the theme “Tokenisation: Africa’s Pathway Towards Building a Trusted, Inclusive and Innovative Virtual Asset Ecosystem,” AVAS 2026 is designed to deliver practical outcomes. A central objective is the proposed Accra Declaration — a framework of shared principles and recommendations to advance responsible virtual asset and tokenisation ecosystems across the continent. The summit will also…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
        "title": "Accra to convene Africa’s regulators and markets on tokenisation at AVAS 2026",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/accra-to-convene-africas-regulators-and-markets-on-tokenisation-at",
        "published": "2026-10-04T22:52:54.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}