"CAR's Meme Coin Plunges 80% Amid Hack Fears and Confusion"

The Central African Republic (CAR) recently launched its national meme coin, Sango, which has since experienced a significant crash, losing approximately 80% of its value. The country's decision to adopt cryptocurrency is part of its efforts to improve its economic standing, despite being rich in minerals but remaining one of the most impoverished and underdeveloped nations globally.

Concerns have been raised about the authenticity of CAR's token, given recent trends of high-profile users' social media accounts being hacked to promote fraudulent meme coins. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra announced the creation of a separate X account for updates on the token, but it was taken down by the social media platform. The token supply has been securely locked through Streamflow, according to the distribution plan, emission groups, and release schedule detailed on the website.

The rarity of a nation launching a meme cryptocurrency has led to confusion, with several industry players citing discrepancies, particularly regarding its distribution. 35% of the total CAR supply has been locked for "Country Development." Yokai Ryujin, founder of cryptocurrency project UnrevealedXYZ, flagged concerns over the CAR meme coin's domain, noting it was registered on Namecheap just three days before its official announcement, an unusual move for a government-backed project. Soon after, Namecheap took down the site, citing "abusive service."

Adding to the confusion, several meme coins with similar names to CAR have popped up, making distinguishing between authentic and fake projects challenging. The dynamics around meme coins took a major turn in late January after former US President Donald Trump unveiled his Official Trump (TRUMP) token alongside First Lady Melania just hours before his inauguration. However, Trump was slammed for the decision, as a section of the market pointed out that launching a meme coin with no underlying fundamentals contradicts his campaign promises, such as making Bitcoin part of the strategic reserve.

CAR's launch was accompanied by increased initial investor interest, but the token has exhibited typical pump-and-dump behavior. At press time, the meme token was trading at $0.144, a drop of about 81% since its launch, after peaking at almost $1 with a market cap of $176 million. Regardless of the political backing behind CAR, the token remains susceptible to risks commonly associated with meme coins, such as high