What’s happened?
In late December 2022 the Central African Republic announced a delay to the planned listing of its “national digital currency”—Sango Coin—on a cryptocurrency exchange until the first quarter of 2023. Further delays to the listing are likely, and we expect that investment flows into Sango Coin will remain low.
Why does it matter?
Following the official launch of the Sango Coin project in July 2022, the government called the adoption of cryptocurrency as legal tender (alongside the CFA franc) “a decisive step towards opening up new opportunities for our country”. However, given the significant physical barriers to using cryptocurrencies in the country (including low internet penetration, poor access to electricity and limited mobile-phone use), combined with limited upside potential (compared with the stability offered by the CFA franc)…