DIGITAL ASSETS REGULATION

The research project looks at the interplay between African regulatory practice and other branches of public law pursuing similar objectives including redressing the harm posed by the illegal use of digital assets This project is part of a broader critique of regulatory pluralism in Africa. It examines the capacity to respond to contemporary circumstances relating to the expanding use of digital assets across networked Africa.

The importance of digital assets and their underlying distributed technologies is tentatively recognised in the policy sphere as supportive of economic growth. The capacity of policy makers and regulators to promote innovation while mitigating risk presents unique challenges. Some include the lack of a synchronised regulatory approach to delineate tech provider obligations, user liabilities, the risk of cybercrime, ineffective consumer protection, arbitrary use of discretionary power by regulatory bodies and its unintended intersectional effects, and the stifling of the innovative benefits of digital assets and related technologies.

The consequences are of concern given the rise in generative Artificial intelligence and the move by tech companies to offer more products to the African public many of whom are groups that are traditionally marginalised by gender, age, social status, ability and so on.