A Look Into the Central African Republic’s Crypto Hub ‘Sango’

Key Insights:

• The Central African Republic has revealed plans for building a crypto hub.
• The project called Sango will also feature a ‘crypto island.’
• The nation made bitcoin a legally recognized currency in April 2022.

The Central African Republic’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender has received applause, compliments, and a lot of criticism. Undeterred by the criticism, the local government is moving to provide a digital currency infrastructure to its citizens.

CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera took to Twitter on May 24 to announce the launch of the country’s first significant crypto initiative called “Sango,” unveiling plans to attract global crypto enthusiasts.

Attracting Global Crypto Enthusiasts

Touadera unveiled plans to create the CAR’s crypto hub soon after the National Assembly unanimously adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. The CAR National Assembly has started the crypto-centric initiative called Sango with support from Touadéra.

A 24-page document details the project’s goals highlighting that Sango aims to ‘pave the way to a digital future of endless possibilities.’ In his Tweet, Touadéra expressed support for Sango, saying that the project has the ‘potential to reshape CAR’s financial system.’

Following the unanimously adoption by the National Assembly of the #BTC legal tender status, we are pleased to showcase the first concrete initiative! It goes beyond politics&administration & has the potential to reshape #CAR’s financial system! #bitcoinhttps://t.co/1oxLHOen6q

— Faustin-Archange Touadéra (@FA_Touadera) May 24, 2022

The document further presented CAR’s plans, including ‘facilitating land acquisition in bitcoin for investors worldwide’ and creating a Digital National Bank. In the paper, the local government has also said that it will ‘fully support’ access to its natural resources, such as gold, diamonds, uranium, lithium, and oil.

Interestingly, Sango will feature an island dubbed ‘the crypto island,’ the ‘first island in the metaverse backed by a real island.’

According to the document, Sango’s legal framework will include an e-residency program, citizenship by investment, online business registration, and no income or corporate tax. As of now, CAR plans to devise this dedicated legal framework before the end of this year.

The document also talks about creating a bitcoin wallet to send, receive and store BTC that would be compatible with the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network is bitcoin’s second-layer protocol for cheaper and faster payments.

CAR plans to finalize the Central African Backbone (CAB) internet interconnection before the end of the year to power its ‘entire digital transformation.’ In the nation’s ‘cryptocurrency economic zone,’ users will be able to propose, view, and contribute to the crypto hub’s future developments.

CAR ‘Baffling the Cryptoverse’?

While CAR’s recognition of BTC as legal tender was welcomed by many, it received quite a bit of criticism from regulators and financial experts across the globe. The International Monetary Fund said that bitcoin adoption by the Central African Republic could be a concern and presented a series of challenges for the country and the region.

Many reports also revealed that the government adopted BTC as legal tender without consulting the regional central bank, which manages a common currency used by six countries, including the Central African Republic.

Notably, the nation is one of the world’s poorest and has become the second to adopt the BTC after El Salvador. Touadéra’s also decision drew criticism from opposition parties.

However, CAR plans to develop a hub to attract cryptocurrency businesses and enthusiasts to the nation as Sango aims to take ‘the Bitcoin legacy to the next level.’ According to World Bank data, the Sango hub news comes to bring foreign investors to the country, likely in an attempt to develop further a nation that has one of the lowest GDPs.