Adwoa Afi Asante reflects on her senior year research exploring perceptions of blockchain technology in Ghana’s banking sector. She examined regulatory concerns, institutional readiness, and the untapped potential of Green FinTech to shape more transparent and sustainable financial systems.

My journey into finance began through internships at two banks in Ghana. I spent significant time onboarding customers onto digital banking platforms. These experiences exposed me to the Ghanaian banking system’s growing push toward digital finance. At the same time, the increasing conversations around sustainability and green finance pushed my interest in exploring the intersection of finance, technology, and regulation through my research.

Having just returned from a semester in France, where I studied decentralized finance in greater depth, I had also become increasingly curious about financial regulation and green finance.

Then I discovered Green FinTech, a term researchers defined as the synergy between financial technology and green finance, designed to promote environmental sustainability through innovative financial solutions. FinTech tools such as blockchain could advance environmental initiatives and offer significant benefits to Ghana’s banking sector. Blockchain could help prevent greenwashing, enhance transparency, improve cross-border payments, enable smart contract creation, and more. So why was it not being discussed or implemented as much as one might expect?

The literature pointed to regulatory gaps, institutional capacity constraints, and policy misalignments. Those reasons are all valid, but I had different questions in mind: What do the people behind these organizations and banks actually think about blockchain? What personal perceptions do they hold? How do these perceptions shape organizational readiness? And what regulatory concerns matter most to them?

To answer these questions, I held extensive conversations with senior banking professionals from universal banks and the Bank of Ghana. They were department heads or managers with significant experience in Ghana’s banking sector, although their knowledge and experience with blockchain technology varied. Here is what I found when I pulled back the curtain on the human side of Ghana’s blockchain future.

What do banking professionals really think about blockchain?
Most of the professionals I spoke with do see value in blockchain. They identified clear operational benefits and discussed how blockchain could streamline settlements, automate Know-Your-Customer processes through smart contracts, reduce fraud, and make cross-border payments faster and more transparent.

Yet for every perceived benefit, there was also a perceived risk. The same professionals described blockchain as high-risk, expensive to implement, and potentially vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. There was near-unanimous agreement that blockchain is complex in many ways. It was perceived as difficult to understand, implement, and explain to customers.

Interestingly, some participants noted that while the technical side is complex, customers may not need to fully understand the technology. They may only need to experience the benefits. However, that did not reduce the perceived internal difficulty. As a result, most participants acknowledged that their institutions would likely need to rely on external expertise.

Contrary to expectations, compatibility emerged as a two-way issue. Participants believed the infrastructure itself could be implemented and integrated into existing banking systems. Culturally, however, blockchain may be a misfit. The professionals described banks in Ghana as followers rather than pioneers. They perceived professionals, institutions, and customers alike as conservative and more willing to adopt a tool only after another institution has “de-risked” it first.

Participants also stated that, in principle, piloting a blockchain application is possible. In practice, however, management approval, budget allocation, and regulatory clarity remain significant barriers, making trialability low. Observability is equally weak, as most participants could not point to visible or concrete examples of blockchain adoption in Ghana. Benefits were often discussed in abstract terms rather than through demonstrated outcomes, leaving many to view blockchain adoption as largely theoretical.

And when it comes to Green FinTech, that connection simply is not there yet.

Most participants did not naturally associate blockchain with environmental sustainability. A few generalized that blockchain is digital and therefore reduces paper use or material waste. Others were more concerned about blockchain’s high energy consumption than its potential to verify green bonds or prevent greenwashing.

It is also worth noting that some participants expressed the view that environmental sustainability conversations are still relatively new within Ghanaian banking. According to them, the Bank of Ghana is only beginning to promote these conversations, meaning there is still significant room for growth.

While the conceptual possibility exists, awareness remains underdeveloped, and blockchain’s green potential is largely absent from the minds of professionals and regulators.

Are our banks ready? 

According to my study, not quite.

First, top management support is lukewarm at best. Senior leaders understand what blockchain is and recognize its potential, but they are not yet ready to fully commit. Many remain cautious because of cybersecurity concerns and the high costs associated with implementation. In other words, management appears interested, but interest is not the same as commitment.

Second, human resources remain a major constraint. Blockchain requires technical skills and expertise that most participants believe Ghanaian banks currently lack in-house. As a result, banks, including the Bank of Ghana, are creating or have already created separate departments focused on FinTech research, development, and implementation.

What are professionals actually worried about? 

One might assume that regulatory ambiguity is the primary concern, but participants generally acknowledged that the approaches being taken by the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Virtual Asset Service Provider Act 2025, are forward-looking and appropriate.

What professionals are more concerned about is the pace of innovation relative to regulation. They believe innovation moves faster than regulation can keep up. By the time regulators adapt to one technological development, the technology itself has already evolved further.

As a result, many participants believe that until there is stronger confidence in the regulatory environment, banks will most likely remain on the sidelines.

Why does this matter? 

Most conversations about blockchain focus on the technology itself. Can it work? Is it secure? Those are important questions, but they often overlook the human side of adoption.

The professionals I spoke with are neither ignorant nor resistant. Instead, they highlighted the very real human and institutional barriers that shape adoption. Perceptions, fear, culture, and capacity all matter. They see the potential, but they are cautious because of risk, cost, organizational culture, and regulation, and that caution is entirely rational.

Ghana has an opportunity. The interest is there. But moving forward will require work, courage, and a willingness to listen to the people making these decisions every day.

For regulators, this means continuing to build flexible frameworks, regulatory sandboxes, and pilot programs. For banks, it means investing in internal capacity and pushing for the regulatory clarity they need.

Paying attention to perceptions helps us understand why adoption does or does not happen. And that is exactly what I set out to do.