The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has hinted at laying the regulatory foundation for tokenising gold, moving to licence independent custodians for gold-backed tokens under the recently passed Virtual Assets Service Providers Act.
The regulator noted this new class of digital commodity-backed assets is a vehicle to broaden financial inclusion and improve market control, signalling plans to extend tokenisation into real estate, diamonds, bauxite and other commodities.
Speaking at The Money Summit 2026 organised by Business and Financial Times (B&FT), the Deputy Director-General of SEC, Mensah Thompson, gave the clearest indication yet of how the regulator intends to approach commodity-backed financing and govern the tokenisation of commodities and blockchain technology.
Mr. Thompson revealed the Commission is building a post-custody framework that will require independent vault operators to undergo rigorous inspections before they can hold the physical gold underpinning digital tokens.
“What we are building in terms of the rules and framework is to have a post-custody framework in place. And so we are going to be licencing some independent custodians who pretty much use the custody-guidelined assets,” Mr. Thompson said.
He noted the framework has set out a distinct role for commercial banks, which he says are natural candidates to serve as both custodians of the physical bullion and safekeepers of the virtual tokens on behalf of institutional investors, including pension funds.
“The banks have two roles to play here. One as independent custodians. Two, as custody of the virtual tokens that are issued. It’s a big opportunity for the banks,” he said.
However, he said vaulting systems, security architecture and other infrastructure will be inspected before any licence is issued.
He added that SEC will require any entity seeking to hold physical gold reserves for tokenised products to demonstrate robust physical and digital safeguards, stressing that the regulator would “inspect your vaulting systems, your safeguards, and other infrastructure that is necessary to ensure that the assets are going to be custodied very safely”.
He noted that holders of gold tokens will soon be able to collateralise their digital holdings to secure bank loans. “For instance, if you have, let’s say, 100 gold tokens worth maybe GH¢100,000 and I don’t want to sell now, I can collateralise those gold tokens and get financing from the bank,” he said.
Mr. Thompson said the tokenisation drive goes beyond precious metals, pointing to opportunities in real estate, minerals and land. “There’s a good opportunity to tokenise a number of assets, from gold to diamond to bauxite and other minerals. There’s a good opportunity to tokenise real estate. So people can tokenise real estate, people can tokenise land. People can also tokenise other real-world assets,” he stated.
Mr. Thompson noted that tokenisation which allows for breaking assets into smaller, tradable units could let retail investors own a stake in high-value assets for as little as one gramme of gold. He explained: “If you fractionalise it into maybe one gramme of gold, then ordinary Ghanaians with GH¢10, GH¢15, GH¢20 can buy this gold”.
A representative from the Gold Board, speaking on behalf of Director of Finance Dr. George Baah Danquah, noted that tokenisation will allow the state to retain value within the domestic ecosystem, unlike traditional gold exports.
“When you have digital assets backed by a physical one, what it means is that as long as the digital one moves and travels, it’s still within the ecosystem – unlike the traditional one, where we export it and reduce access to the commodity,” he said.
