As the Central Bank of Ghana is set to begin piloting the much talked about e-cedi in this month of September, Mr Kwame Oppong, the Head of Financial Technology and Innovation at the Bank of Ghana, has disclosed that smart devices such as smartphones and smart watches will play important roles in the implementation and success of the digital currency role out.
According to Mr Oppong, the digital currency will make transaction easy, simple and faster as large sums of money can be stored on a small card.
“I can for instance have a card – very simple card – that I can store my e-Cedi on it. Rather than carrying a large sum of cash somewhere to go and make a payment, I could have one of these cards and save the e-Cedi on it. It’s also important to mention that because its digital, you can save beyond cards; you can also save it on smart devices such as smart watches, smart phones. You can save [e-Cedi] on any device that is a smart device.”
Mr Kwame Oppong
However, Mr Oppong indicated that those without smart phones can also make payment or transfer or store/save the e-Cedi on phones which are not ‘smart’ in nature, using the USSD code.
“To also mention, for those who may not have access to data, but have access to our usual USSD code which is quite common in Ghana, you can still use that to spend the e-Cedi. And so to a large extent, the e-Cedi comes to replace cash and the role that cash is playing in the system now.
“Fortunately for us, we have a unified QR (Quick Response) system that allows very small merchants -micro merchants – to be provided the ability to receive payment digitally”.
Mr Kwame Oppong
Moreover, Mr. Oppong noted the e-Cedi will complement other electronic payment systems including mobile money, but more importantly deepen the cash-lite agenda.
Meanwhile, a section of the public have expressed misgivings of the e-cedi raising safety concerns.
Notwithstanding the fears of the public, Mr Oppong stressed that there are many inherent securities embedded into the digital currency which makes it well protected.
He further pointed out that the Central Bank is using the most robust technology and design that will protect users of the e-Cedi.
“The e-cedi will be available for use in different means. If you have a bank account, you can spend it with your debit card, you can spend it by moving it with your banking app and similarly you can withdraw it onto offline card as well, and in that case you don’t see the e-Cedi physically or with your eyes. But all the safety features, and the security features that we incorporate into currency, are also going to be embedded in there”.
Mr Kwame Oppong
He also explained that the cyber security threats and risk of fraud digitally driven have been looked at very carefully, outlining further that “if you look at the choice and the partner [currency designer] we took, that reflects our focus of using the robust technology that will safeguard users of the e-Cedi.”
Mr Oppong also boasted that the entity that BoG is partnering with and helping with the technology has about 160 years in printing currency.
“The second thing is the design of the usage of the e-Cedi, and so today because it’s a digital version of cash, on the one hand, it’s secured by being digital because people cannot virtually see it and know how much you have and carry the money away. But on the other hand, it also exposes you to cyber security risks. And so to that end, the existing processes and existing modalities safeguarding your bank account and mobile money is still at play”.
Mr Kwame Oppong
Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana assured consumers that the e-Cedi will be well secured and safe from Cyber-attacks.
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