Central African Republic Plots Crypto Land Grab—1,700 Hectares Hit the Blockchain

Africa’s crypto pioneer is back at it—tokenizing real estate like it’s going out of style. The CAR government just greenlit a blockchain land registry play covering 1,700 hectares. That’s roughly 3,200 football fields for the metaverse crowd.

Why this matters: When your national currency’s worthless, might as well mint some digital deeds. The move follows CAR’s controversial Bitcoin adoption in 2022—because nothing stabilizes an economy like volatile crypto assets.

Watch this space: If successful, this could become the template for developing nations to bypass traditional finance systems. Or, more likely, another case study for IMF warning reports.

CAR explores tokenization

The presidential decree Touadéra shared on X marks the country’s latest effort to blend crypto with national development.

The land being offered for sale spans an area equivalent to almost 2,500 football pitches, and is situated west of the village of Bossongo, located 45 km west of the capital, Bangui.

The decree also references the country’s mining code and laws from 2023 related to tokenizing natural resources, which suggests that the land may be used for mining purposes. This is not far-fetched as mining is one of the most lucrative businesses in the country, particularly when it comes to Gold and diamonds.

Since the news broke, $CAR’s price has experienced notable gains. However, its price started rising long before the announcement was revealed. It was hovering around $0.025 on May 26, but after the announcement on May 29, it spiked, touching and going past $0.05.

Over the past week, the token price has seen a gain of about 116%, according to CoinGecko, with a current market cap of over $53 million and over 18,400 holders.

Unfortunately, despite its current surge, the coin is still 92.7% down from its all-time high of $0.7, and public sentiments surrounding it have yet to heal from the pump-and-dump scandal associated with it.

Nevertheless, President Touadéra has continued to post about the $CAR token regularly on X, and like Donald Trump, he also offered the top 100 $CAR holders a chance to meet him.

Users recall memories of Sango coin, another crypto venture by CAR

This is not the first time CAR has talked about the tokenization of its natural resources. As far back as 2022, CAR had a crypto venture named Sango coin. It was a pioneering initiative aimed at leveraging blockchain technology to revolutionize the country’s economic framework, especially via the tokenization of its natural resources and the adoption of a national digital currency.

It was also launched in 2022 under the leadership of President Touadéra; however, it was plagued with controversy and sparked frustration among investors.

On April 29, the Sango team revealed that “the original Sango project … will not continue in its previous form,” although it also hinted at a reboot.

“After careful consideration and strategic planning, we are preparing a new direction that honors the initial ambition, but adapts it to a stronger path forward,” it wrote on X at the time.

Some users believe the announcement is proof that $CAR is Sango coin’s replacement, especially since it deals with land tokenization, an area Sango coin may have touched had it gotten off its feet.

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