Central African Republic's CAR Memecoin Project Raises Legitimacy Concerns

The cryptocurrency world is once again wondering whether the hottest new memecoin is legitimate. This time, the controversy surrounds a token promoted

Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has once again promoted a cryptocurrency token through his verified X account, sparking controversy among the cryptocurrency community.

On Feb. 10, Touadéra’s X account announced the launch of a new memecoin dubbed CAR, prompting mixed reactions due to the use of English in the post. The CAR president’s account typically posts in French, which is one of the two official languages of the Central African Republic.

The announcement also raised concerns as the gray checkmark on Touadéra’s X account is reserved for verified government entities.

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Moreover, a video posted by Touadéra’s account, which showed him promoting the CAR memecoin against a virtual background, triggered red flags when scanned by Deepware, an AI deepfake detection tool. Deepfake was detected on two detection models, while the results came out clean on two others. It should be noted that Deepware includes a disclaimer that its deepfake tests are still in beta.

However, a second promotion video uploaded by Touadéra’s account, in which he thanked the public for the “successful” launch of CAR, passed Deepware’s test.

According to Touadéra’s X account, $50,000 in proceeds from the CAR memecoin experiment will be used to refurbish a deteriorating school campus. If the project follows through on this promise, it could provide much-needed funds for a country in dire need of development support.

The Central African Republic faces severe economic challenges, including ongoing conflict and political instability. Since 2013, the CAR has been embroiled in civil unrest. A peace deal was signed in 2019, but violence continues.

Corruption further contributes to economic struggles, with the country ranking 149th out of 180 nations on Transparency International’s corruption index. Meanwhile, approximately 68% of citizens live below the national poverty line. The average annual income is just 401 euros (about $413).

Related: XRP and Solana race toward the next crypto ETF approvalA significant portion of the government’s budget is believed to be allocated to security rather than development, further limiting infrastructure growth and public services. According to the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, the country suffers from partially frozen or delayed budget support from donors and Western partners after receiving demands for more transparency in the country’s security-related spending.

CoinGecko, one of the most established and frequently visited crypto data aggregators, initially displayed a Telegram link for the CAR memecoin on its page. However, cybersecurity firm Scam Sniffer discovered that the Telegram page contained a fake “Safeguard” verification bot designed to steal user credentials. CoinGecko removed the link after being alerted.

Similarly, security firm SlowMist found a malicious link embedded in trading platform GMGNAI’s data dashboard for CAR. Instead of leading to a legitimate website, the link directed users to a Linktree page, which then redirected them to a CAPTCHA page.

“Cos,” the founder of SlowMist, warned that interacting with this link would infect users with malware.

The launch of Trump’s memecoins — first assumed to be a hack — has seemingly set a precedent for political figures issuing their own cryptocurrencies. However, scammers are capitalizing on the trend.

On Feb. 5, the X account of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was targeted by scammers to promote a fraudulent token. Slow Mist traced the token creator’s activity back to a criminal gang.

Some scammers choose to impersonate government officials to announce their own token launches, like on Feb. 10, when one used the likeness of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu. The account has since been suspended by X.