CAR’s Crypto Push: How Digital Assets Empower Elites and Foreign Criminal Networks

Central African Republic's embrace of cryptocurrency isn't just a financial experiment—it's reshaping power dynamics in dangerous ways.

Elites Consolidate Control

When a nation adopts crypto without robust infrastructure, existing power brokers win. They've got the capital, the connections, and the technical know-how to exploit new systems first. The digital gold rush leaves ordinary citizens mining for scraps while the connected class builds new fortunes.

Shadow Networks Go Digital

Crypto's borderless nature cuts through traditional financial surveillance. For transnational criminal operations, that's not a bug—it's the main feature. Unregulated adoption creates a superhighway for illicit flows, bypassing sanctions and laundering proceeds with a few clicks.

The Governance Gap

Weak institutions can't regulate what they don't understand. Without strong legal frameworks and enforcement, crypto becomes a tool for those already playing outside the rules. It's the ultimate regulatory arbitrage—moving value where oversight can't follow.

Finance's Oldest Story, Newest Chapter

Every financial innovation gets weaponized by those with the most to gain and the least to lose. Crypto in fragile states just proves Wall Street's first law still applies: money flows toward power, and power protects its own—now with better encryption. The revolution won't be decentralized if the same people control the nodes.

Report Says CAR’s Crypto Projects Excluded Most Citizens

The report noted that the government framed these initiatives as tools for economic growth, modernization, and national development.

In practice, however, meaningful participation by the majority of citizens has been largely impossible.

Limited access to digital infrastructure and the country’s ongoing insecurity have effectively excluded most of the population from engaging with these crypto projects.

The report traces the rollout of these initiatives alongside broader political trends, including the consolidation of executive power and the increasing influence of foreign actors.

Critics have argued that the CAR’s crypto projects primarily serve elite interests, offering investment opportunities in mining, forestry, and tokenized land largely inaccessible to ordinary citizens.

Sango Coin, launched in mid-2022, promised infrastructure projects such as a “Crypto City” and offered foreign investors access to land and e-residency.

Despite heavy promotion, only a small fraction of the tokens were sold, and many promised outcomes remain unrealized.

The subsequent $CAR meme coin, introduced in early 2025, experienced extreme volatility, technical irregularities, and opaque governance, raising further concerns about market manipulation and speculative practices.

The GI-TOC report highlights the role of shadow networks, foreign private actors, and individuals with histories of fraud in promoting the CAR’s crypto agenda.

President Touadéra has been described as surrounded by crypto enthusiasts, pro-Russian businesspeople, and controversial figures, including Nicolae Bogdan Buzaianu, linked to alleged illegal timber trafficking, and Émile Parfait Simb, associated with multiple fraud convictions.

The report concludes that these initiatives appear designed to enrich a narrow circle of insiders while opening new channels for foreign influence and transnational organized crime at the expense of the wider population.

Weak Oversight and Poor Infrastructure Hamper CAR’s Crypto Ambitions

The CAR’s crypto ventures have also faced significant domestic and regional challenges.

Bitcoin’s adoption as legal tender was widely criticized by international financial institutions, regional regulators, and the country’s own Constitutional Court.

In March 2023, after regional groups pushed for change, the CAR parliament scrapped Bitcoin’s legal tender status and adjusted its rules to match the Central African Economic and Monetary Community standards.

The report shows the concentration of power within the Sango ecosystem. The way things are set up mostly benefits public officials and a small circle of insiders, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

Additionally, the tokenization of natural resources and land carries substantial risks of misappropriation and rent-seeking, especially in a context of weak oversight and ongoing insecurity.

Efforts to mitigate the risks of elite capture and criminal exploitation have been limited. The CAR has begun to work with regional regulators to align cryptocurrency rules with broader monetary frameworks.

However, infrastructure deficits, extreme poverty, and ongoing political instability continue to constrain citizen participation and oversight.

Observers warn that without stronger regulation, public education, and international cooperation, the country’s crypto ventures may remain tools that concentrate wealth and influence among elites while exposing the nation to criminal and financial vulnerabilities.