(Agence Ecofin) – While the price of bitcoin is in free fall and many crypto platforms are declaring bankruptcy, Bangui hopes to raise 21 million dollars thanks to the sale of 210 million sango coins.
The Central African Republic announced this Friday, July 15, that it will start selling its own cryptocurrency, the Sango, from Thursday, July 21 at an initial unit price of $0.10.
Described as a “national digital currency”, the “sango coin will go on sale on July 21 with a minimum investment of $500 to be paid in cryptocurrencies”, notably in bitcoin and ethereum, according to data published on the Sango investment center website.
210 million Sango coins will initially be offered to investors at a unit price of $0.10. This will attract investments for a total amount of 21 million dollars, the same source added, indicating that twelve other operations of sale of Sango coins are planned with prices which will increase each time.
Under this digital currency project, foreign investors will be able to purchase citizenship for $60,000 in cryptocurrencies on the condition of holding equivalent Sango coins for five years as collateral, and the “e-residence” for $6,000 held for three years, according to the “sango.org” website.
A 250 square meter plot is also offered for $10,000 to investors who agree to hold the Sango Coins for a decade.
The Central African President, Faustin Archange Touadéra, announced on Sunday July 3 that the Sango coin would become “the catalyst for the tokenization of vast natural resources” from the country. He also announced the launch of a “Crypto Island”, presented as a zero-tax free zone where palaces, casinos, a large stadium and a water park would be built.
International financial institutions concerned
Unveiled for the first time last May, the Sango project (one of the official languages of the country) essentially aims to make the Central African Republic an international hub for investment and the development of cryptocurrency.
The second least developed country in the world according to the UN, the Central African Republic became last April the first country in Africa and only the second in the world (after El Salvador) to adopt Bitcoin as its official currency.
The adoption of digital finance by this country torn since 2013 by a civil war has raised reservations from several international and regional financial institutions.
The day after Bitcoin was adopted as the official currency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for “not to see Bitcoin as a panacea against the economic challenges facing Africa”.
The Central African Banking Commission (COBAC), the institution through which the Common Central Bank of CEMAC countries (BEAC) regulates banking activities, recalled that it is “prohibited from converting, settling or hedging in currency or FCFA, transactions relating to cryptocurrencies or having a link with them”.
The World Bank, for its part, expressed its “concerns about the transparency of the project as well as its potential implications for financial inclusion, the financial sector and public finances in general, in addition to environmental aspects”.
The detractors of the Sango project also judge it, “unrealistic” in a country where the Internet penetration rate is around 11%, and the electrification rate is limited to 14.3%.
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