A Country Meme Coin? The Central African Republic Launches Its Own Crypto, But Not Everyone Is Impressed

The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, on Sunday announced the launch of a new meme coin called “Central African Republic Meme” CAR/USD, leaving the crypto community in disbelief.

What Happened: Following the launch, Touadéra claimed the meme coin experiment could bring global attention to the African country.

However, blockchain data provider Bubblemaps revealed that only 9.3% of CAR's supply was publicly distributed, with the majority controlled by creators and “country development”.

On-chain data from Spotonchain showed that a trader exchanging 101,874 TRUMP TRUMP/USD, worth $1.52 million, for 2.495 million CAR at $0.609 per token.

This trader previously made millions from meme coins, including $5.72 million profit on TRUMP, $2.96 million on Peanut The Squirrel PNUT/USD and $1.23 million Goatseus Maximus GOAT/USD.  

CAR's price surged to $0.6568, pushing its market cap to $560 million within 7 hours, but then plummeted 83.2%, reducing its valuation to $127.4 million.

Also Read: Meme Coin Index ‘Doge Jones’ Launches App Including TRUMP, BONK, WIF (CORRECTED)

Why It Matters: Nansen AI data shows CAR being a hot topic across trader groups, from free users to professional investors.

$CAR racing through everyone's mind.

Like we said, probably nothing. https://t.co/zkz8PErIw9 pic.twitter.com/fY5gtYASsR

— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) February 10, 2025

While meme coin launches are notorious in the cryptocurrency industry, crypto trader Momin questioned the legitimacy of the launch.

Despite a presidential endorsement, several issues raised suspicions, such as concerns over endorsements being a deepfake, discrepancies on social media and no major centralized exchange listings, despite purported state backing.

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