Central African Republic Postpones Sango Coin Listing

The Central African Republic’s plan to list the sango coin in the last quarter of 2022 has been put on hold, while the scheduled unlocking of 5% of token holders’ portfolios has similarly been postponed, a statement from the team promoting the token has reportedly said. The decision to delay the listing of the coin was prompted by what the team terms “current market conditions.”

Scheduled Token Unlocking Postponed

Nearly eight months after becoming the first country in Africa to adopt bitcoin, the Central African Republic (CAR) recently said it will not proceed with the listing of its “Sango” crypto token as planned. In a statement reportedly posted in a sango coin Telegram group, the team promoting the token claimed that “current market conditions” had necessitated this decision.

Besides the listing delay, the CAR team said the planned unlocking of up to 5% of sango holders’ portfolios had been postponed as well. According to the token information available on the official Sango website, the CAR had hoped to list the coin before the end of 2022.

However, just like the country’s decision to make bitcoin legal tender, which has faced a series of problems, the Central African Republic’s sango coin, too, has run into a series of challenges. Chief among these has been the seemingly limited investor interest in the sango coin. The court ruling that declared unconstitutional the government’s plan to grant the country’s citizenship to sango coin holders is also believed to have dampened investor interest.

In addition, many bitcoiners that initially supported the CAR’s decision to make the top cryptocurrency legal tender have questioned the motives behind the sango coin initiative.

‘Sango Bitcoin Sidechain Testnet’

Despite encountering these and other setbacks, the CAR government is still proceeding with the token sale which is now in “cycle 2.” Also as shown by the token roadmap, the CAR will proceed with the “Sango bitcoin sidechain testnet” in the first quarter of 2023, before launching the so-called national mobile smartphones program.

Concerning the CAR government’s plan to grant citizenship to investors that acquire or hold $60,000 worth of sango coins, an unidentified Telegram moderator reportedly said “more updates about this will be made next month.”

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.