The Central African Republic, despite its immense mineral wealth, remains one of the world’s most impoverished and politically unstable nations. Now, it has stepped into the volatile world of cryptocurrency with the launch of a memecoin called $CAR. However, its debut has been anything but smooth, with experts already sounding alarms over its legitimacy and stability.
A memecoin, by definition, is a cryptocurrency driven by internet virality—often tied to a trending personality or joke—rather than fundamental value, making it highly speculative.
President Faustin Archange Touadera took to X over the weekend to unveil the initiative.
“Today, we are launching $CAR — an experiment designed to show how something as simple as a meme can unite people, support national development, and put the Central African Republic on the world stage in a unique way,” he declared. He also reminded the public that his nation was the second in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, following El Salvador.
While Touadera celebrated the launch, market reality struck hard. By Monday, the token’s value had plummeted by roughly 90%, fueling concerns that the project could be a scam.
“The infrastructure of the project raises questions. The official domain, car.meme, was registered through Namecheap, a budget-friendly domain provider more commonly used by individuals or independent developers rather than government institutions,” noted the website beingcrypto.
The platform further pointed out that the domain had been “registered only three days before the official announcement, which does not correspond to the classic practices of a state-wide project.”
In an effort to dispel scepticism, Mining Minister Rufin Benam Beltoungou issued a statement clarifying that $CAR is “a project of the Ministry of Mines and Geology… in collaboration with the company Barn$ley.”
Despite the reassurances, doubts persist. According to Cryptoast, the Central African Republic’s previous attempt at a national cryptocurrency, Sango, “now seems to have ended in failure.”
Whether $CAR will suffer a similar fate or manage to defy expectations remains to be seen, but its rocky start has already raised serious red flags in the crypto community.
