The Central African Republic Unveils National Meme Coin (CAR) to Promote Unity and National Development

The Central African Republic Meme (CAR) was announced by the country's President, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who noted that it is an "experiment"

The Central African Republic has unveiled a national meme coin dubbed CAR Meme (CAR), aiming to promote unity and leverage blockchain technology.

According to an X post on February 10, the initiative is part of an “experiment” designed to support national development, as stated by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra.

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.

Contract: 7oBYdEhV4GkXC19ZfgAvXpJWp2Rn9pm1Bx2cVNxFpump

While some reactions suggested that the account may have been hacked, President Touadéra shared another video to reaffirm the country’s belief in blockchain technology.

In the same footage, he highlighted the Central African Republic’s decision in 2022 to become the second country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, following El Salvador.

Indeed, the Central African Republic is pinning its hopes on the cryptocurrency sector to improve its economic standing. Despite being rich in minerals, the nation remains among the most impoverished and underdeveloped globally.

Reactions to CAR Meme token

Several industry figures have expressed concerns about the authenticity of CAR, especially considering recent trends where the social media accounts of high-profile users have been hacked to promote fraudulent meme coins.

For example, there have been cases where the accounts of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and French football star Kylian Mbappé were compromised to promote such projects.

In a move to provide further updates on the Solana (SOL)-network based meme coin, President Touadéra announced the creation of a separate X account for updates on the token. However, the account was taken down by the social media platform.

We are working with @X to get @CARMeme_News back as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the token supply has been securely locked through @streamflow_fi, according to the distribution plan, emission groups, and release schedule detailed on our website.

To provide more context on the matter, a domain for the CAR meme coin was quickly created, and according to the website, 35% of the total CAR supply has been locked for “Country Development.”

However, some red flags have been raised, such as the domain being registered on Namecheap just three days prior to its official announcement, which seemed unusual for a government-backed project.

Soon after, Namecheap took down the site, citing “abusive service.”

Adding to the confusion, several meme coins with names similar to CAR have popped up, making it difficult to distinguish between the authentic and fake projects.

Overall, the dynamics around meme coins took a major turn in late January after President Donald Trump unveiled his Official Trump (TRUMP) token alongside First Lady Melania just hours before his inauguration.

However, Trump was criticized for the decision, as a section of the market pointed out that launching a meme coin with no underlying fundamentals contradicts his campaign promises, such as making Bitcoin part of the strategic reserve.