The Central African Republic has launched its new government-backed Sango crypto hub initiative to foster the development of the local digital asset sector.
The Sango project follows the CAR’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in April. The initiative aims to attract businesses and global crypto talent/enthusiasts, ramp up local BTC adoption and oversee the rollout of crypto regulatory frameworks and infrastructure. A Metaverse platform dubbed “The Crypto Island” and Sango Coin is also in the works.
During an event President Faustin-Archange Touadera outlined the vision for Sango is to have a common cryptocurrency and an integrated capital market that could stimulate commerce and sustain growth.
One of the key points President Touadera emphasized was financial inclusion and the importance of citizens being able to gain access to crypto via a smartphone easily. He drew comparisons with the underutilized banking sector in CAR, which has several barriers to entry
Despite the CAR president’s bullishness for the project, the World Bank stated in May that it will not be supporting Sango over transparency concerns and potential implications for financial inclusion.
Sango is backed by the CAR’s National Assembly and is being driven primarily by President Touadera. While many specifics are yet to be detailed, a significant focus of the project will be to tokenize the country’s abundant natural resources to open up greater investment access to them.