The Central African Republic has launched its national crypto dubbed the ‘Sango coin’, barely three months after adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender in April. This was made known by CAR President Faustin Archange Touadéra at a virtual event launching of Project Sango.
In his keynote address he delivered CAR’s crypto vision where the country’s national crypto will exist alongside Bitcoin as a recognized digital currency. Touadéra also stated that Sango Coin would play an integral role in modernizing the infrastructure of the landlocked Central African country, including a planned metaverse project.
“Sango Coin will be the next-generation currency for Central African Republic, Sango Coin will act as the gateway to the natural resources of the Central African Republic. The alternative to cash is cryptocurrency, for us, the formal economy is no longer an option,” Touadéra said
CAR also plans to build an actual “Crypto Island,” along the Oubangui River as one of the key elements of Project Sango which will host digital currency firms with special incentives, including zero-percent corporate and personal tax on digital assets, as well as citizenship by investment.
The project will also push for metaverse adoption by promising to allow for the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in providing digital identity, e-residency, and registry of real estate assets on-chain. Further, CAR intends to open up investment in its natural resources through tokenization and crowdfunding regulation. However CAR’s move to adopt crypto has raised been raising eyebrows in the international community including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since April.
“The citizens will gain at every level, they will live in a country in full economic development, which means employment and prosperity. Moreover, they will benefit from virtual transactions which, in contrast to traditional banking, have the advantage of rapid access, fast execution, lack of bureaucracy, and low cost,” Touadéra reiterated.
The CAR government also reports that along with making the digital currency legal tender, its National Assembly has also given its backing to the president to make the country the first digital currency hub in Africa.
