Central African Republic expands Sango project to land, resource tokenization

August 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Assets

Asset tokenization has been in the works for a year. The ambitious project has also included investor citizenship and an island in the metaverse.

The Central African Republic (CAR) has extended its Sango blockchain project to tokenization of its land and natural resources. The country, one of the poorest and most crypto-friendly in the world, is one of the most active in crypto innovation.

According to an announcement posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), the CAR National Assembly passed a law on tokenizing land and natural resources on July 24. Among other provisions of the law, it will make it possible to obtain business visas online and allow citizens and foreigners to set up businesses “easily” and obtain licensing in real estate, agriculture, natural resource exploitation and forestry. The statement said the law was "unanimously approved."

The CAR had announced its intentions to tokenize its natural resources last year, not long after the launch of Project Sango in May 2022. The Sango Project also called for the creation of its own Crypto Island Metaverse.

The CAR’s efforts to position itself in the vanguard of crypto adoption has faced significant obstacles. The CAR was the first country in Africa, and second country worldwide, to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as a national currency in April 2022. It reportedly repealed its status in May of this year. The country also launched its own cryptocurrency, the Sango in an effort to displace the CFA (Financial Community of Africa) franc. The Sango was not intended to be a central bank digital currency.

*The Sango logo imposed over Bitcoin's. Source: the Sango website*

The Sango faced several obstacles before its launch, including the rejection of the Sango-linked citizenship program by the Constitutional Court. Nonetheless, the citizenship program, which costs $60,000 in Sango, remains on offer on the Sango Project website. The country is also considering the introduction of other cryptocurrencies.

The International Monetary Fund, which opposed the CAR’s adoption of Bitcoin, estimates the country’s GDP growth at 2.2% this year.

The SANGO Project's Next Chapter

Exciting news! The Central African Republic is ushering in a new era of #financial empowerment through #blockchain technology.

Guided by the visionary leadership of President Professor @FA_Touadera , we're ready to make a global impact. pic.twitter.com/m1jYjsvc0q
— Sango (@sangoproject) August 21, 2023

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Central African Republic’s Sango Project announces delay of token listing

March 31, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

The project has marketed Sango Coin to interested parties by offering pathways to CAR citizenship through investments.

The organization following the launch of the Central African Republic’s Sango Coin has announced a delay of its listing “just for a few weeks,” citing legal and regulatory obstacles.

In a March 31 message on its Telegram channel, the Sango Project said the government of the Central African Republic, or CAR, had made “significant progress” in establishing laws and regulations which will allow its cryptocurrency Sango Coin to be listed on crypto exchanges. However, according to the project, the Sango Coin listing will be postpone for a few weeks before the frameworks are finalized.

“There are also some other new surprises that will come along with these laws,” said Sango Project. “Rest assured that this delay is necessary to ensure that Sango is fully compliant with all relevant regulations and that our products are launched in the most secure and responsible manner possible.”

Short Sango update

The government task force is working to change the laws in order to integrate #SANGO.

Cycle 3 is live.✅

All #SANGO that wasn’t bought in the sale cycles will be burned.

We are currently working on distributing all the prizes of the Sango $1M Contest https://t.co/scDF4g8EKF
— Sango (@sangoproject) January 20, 2023

The token listing was one of the goals of Project Sango, a crypto hub proposed in the CAR in May 2022. The initiative followed the CAR government passing legislation allowing its citizens to use Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender alongside the CFA franc.

Since the token and crypto hub were launched in July 2022, the project has marketed Sango Coin to interested parties by offering pathways to CAR citizenship through investments — a strategy reportedly declared unconstitutional by the country’s court system in August. Sango Project announced in December that the listing would be delayed due to market conditions. According to its website, the project plans to list the tokens at a price of $0.45.

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Central African Republic court says new $60,000 citizenship by crypto investment program is unconstitutional

August 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Africa

The move comes one month after the CAR rolled out the new incentive to boost crypto innovation in the country.

According to Reuters, on Monday, the Central African Republic's (CAR) Constitutional Court said that the purchase of citizenship, e-residency and land using its government-backed Sango digital currency is unconstitutional due to the absence of market value in nationalities. Earlier in July, the CAR's government unveiled its Sango crypto hub to attract global crypto talent/enthusiasts, boost Bitcoin adoption and implement new crypto regulatory frameworks. The Sango blockchain is built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, similar to a layer-2 solution.

Part of the program includes a citizenship by investment program, where foreign nationals can effectively purchase citizenship in the CAR for $60,000 in crypto with an equivalent amount of Sango tokens held as collateral and returned after five years. Similarly, e-Residency can be purchased for $6,000 with Sango tokens locked for three years. It is also possible to buy a 250-square meter plot of land in the CAR for $10,000 with Sango tokens returned a decade later.

The CAR government says that each Sango token will be fractionally backed by Bitcoin, which it adopted as legal tender in April. Each Sango can be purchased for $0.10 during its the first stages of its initial coin offering (ICO), with the listing price target of $0.45 by the final round. The total supply of the token is 210 million. So far, less than 20 million Sango tokens have been claimed, and officials have extended the first cycle of the sale by approximately five weeks.

Affluent investors typically enroll in investment-based second citizenship programs for business activities, tax mitigation and ease of travel. The Central African Republic's gross domestic product has declined steadily since peaking in the mid-1960s. Its current passport allows for visa-free travel in 17 out of 198 countries in the world.

Sango – The First Digital Monetary System Built on Bitcoin

July 28, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Sango crypto hub goes live in the Central African Republic

July 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

BTC adoption

Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera outlined that the Sango crypto hub project will foster financial inclusion by removing the barriers to entry in the banking sector.

The Central African Republic (CAR) 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 (BTC) 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.

Speaking at the launch event on July 3, 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:

“The citizens will gain at every level, they will live in a country in full economic development, which means employment and prosperity. Moreover, they will benefit from virtual transactions which, in contrast to traditional banking, have the advantage of rapid access, fast execution, lack of bureaucracy, and low cost.”

“This technology will give an identity to the continent by reducing cost. This vision is perfect, and we do not have the time to wait. [...] For us, the formal economy is no longer an option," he added.

Gold served as the engine of our civilization for ages! In this new age, digital gold will serve the same for the future! @SangoProject is the foundation that we will build on, together as one! Our President is speaking at the #Sango Genesis Event, at 7PM: https://t.co/pdfamwRkz2
— Faustin-Archange Touadéra (@FA_Touadera) July 3, 2022

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.

Citizen identity and ownership of assets will also be tokenized as an NFT. Additionally, Crypto Island will play a crucial part in facilitating this ecosystem and serve as a way for verified users to gain access to tokenized assets.

The expanded Bitcoin support will also see the development of a local wallet built for BTC and the lighting network.

It looks like Central African Republic plans on embracing NFT's and the Metaverse following their #Bitcoin legal tender law. The Sango Initiative plans to tokenize real world assets, create digital identities for ownership, all of which will be represented in the Metaverse. pic.twitter.com/jucxKsoYHd
— Derek Ross ⚡5️⃣ (@derekmross) July 2, 2022

World Bank won’t support Central African Republic’s Sango crypto hub

May 26, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bank of Central African States

The World Bank has said “it will be physically impossible” for the lender to fund the planned Sango crypto hub and voiced concerns regarding the country’s adoption of Bitcoin.

The World Bank has signalled its concerns over the Central African Republic (CAR) adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal currency and says it won’t support the newly announced “Sango” crypto hub.

At the end of April CAR president Faustin-Archange Touadéra established a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in the country and adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender. On May 24 he announced a plan to launch the country’s first crypto hub called “Sango”.

Sango is described as the country’s first “Crypto Initiative” — a legal hub for crypto related businesses encompassing economic policies including no corporate or income tax and thecreation of a virtual and physical “Crypto Island.”

An official document outlining the Sango project states that the country “received approval for a $35 million development fund from The World Bank for the digitization of the public sector.”

However a spokesperson for the institution told Bloomberg via email the recently approved grant “is unrelated to any cryptocurrency initiative.” and that “the World Bank is not supporting ‘Sango – The First Crypto Initiative Project’.”

The $35 million grant from the World Bank announced May 5 was meant for updating and digitizing the existing public financial management system such as improving digital bank payments.

In the statement The World Bank added “it will be physically impossible” for the institution to fund the Sango project and expressed disapproval of the CAR’s adoption of Bitcoin:

“We have concerns regarding transparency as well as the potential implications for financial inclusion, the financial sector and public finance at large, in addition to environmental shortcomings.”

CAR’s Bitcoin adoption has also caught the ire of the governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) Abbas Mahamat Tolli who wrote a scathing letter to CAR Finance Minister Hervé Ndoba shortly after news of the adoption.

In the letter Tolli wrote the new law “suggests that its main objective is to establish a Central African currency beyond the control of the BEAC that could compete with or displace the legal currency” which he believes would “jeopardize monetary stability”.

The World Bank echoed the sentiment saying:

“It is important that the relevant regional institutions, such as the central bank and the banking authorities, are fully consulted and remain in the driver’s seat.”

There is a growing dislike of the CFA franc — the official fiat currency of the CAR pegged to the euro in the country. Meanwhile crypto adoption rates have skyrocketed in Africa according to a March report from crypto exchange KuCoin showing crypto transactions increased by over 2,500% in 2021.

It’s unclear what the adoption rate of crypto is within CAR specifically. The country only has an internet penetration rate of just over 7% of the total population according to data from DataReportal dated January 2022 meaning only around 350,000 individuals are even online.

sango

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