The Central African Republic’s (CAR) digital asset initiative has been marred by controversy since it launched, from scam claims against President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, to the botched implementation of BTC as legal tender. Now, a new report has taken aim at the project, labeling it unrealistic and of little benefit to the citizens.
Published by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, the report claims that Touadéra’s digital asset initiatives “raise serious concerns about how cryptocurrency has been deployed, by whom, and to whose benefit.”
CAR’s digital currency efforts stretch back to 2022, when Touadéra pushed a new law that recognized BTC as legal tender. The move immediately attracted criticism locally and globally. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed the move posed major legal, transparency, and economic policy challenges, while the regional central bank claimed the new policy was illegal as BTC payments were banned.
Then came the Sango digital currency hub, and with it, a new national token: Sango Coin. Touadéra told investors they could earn citizenship by purchasing the token, but a local court declared the move unconstitutional.
“…the initiative failed to attract significant investment, with only a small fraction of the intended tokens sold, and many of its promised outcomes remaining unrealized,” says the report.
The latest scandal involves $CAR, a new government-backed memecoin that shot up to a $900 million market cap before quickly collapsing.
“…the $CAR coin was linked to speculative land tokenization, allowing plots of land to be purchased using cryptocurrency through largely unregulated platforms.”
CAR’s ‘crypto’ initiatives ‘largely unrealistic’
While Touadéra poured resources into his ‘crypto’ projects, most of the CAR has limited access to electricity and Internet connectivity. As a result, “meaningful participation by citizens in cryptocurrency markets has been largely unrealistic,” the report says.
Ultimately, Touadéra’s ‘crypto’ projects “created opportunities for opaque financial flows, speculative practices and potential criminal exploitation.” While they were touted as tools for financial liberation and inclusive development, they ended up being a mechanism for government officials and their cronies to raise millions of dollars from unsuspecting investors. It also exposed the country to heightened risks of financial abuse and loss of sovereignty, the report added.
In particular, the report linked Touadéra’s ‘crypto’ schemes to Émile Parfait Simb, a ‘self-styled crypto guru’ from neighboring Cameroon. Simb is the architect of dozens of ‘crypto’ scams, which have allegedly defrauded billions of dollars from over 300,000 victims in Africa, the United States, Canada, and Europe. His notoriety has reportedly earned him the nickname ‘African Madoff.’
“Without robust regulatory frameworks, institutional capacity and transparency, these initiatives are unlikely to advance sustainable development,” the report concluded.
“Instead, they may become vehicles for rent-seeking, elite enrichment, money laundering and terrorism financing, further entrenching the CAR’s position as a hub for transnational organized crime.”
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Source: https://coingeek.com/car-crypto-initiatives-labeled-unrealistic-risky-report/
