Faustin-Archange Touadera Faustin-Archange Touadera
Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin-Archange Touadéra Faustin-Archange Touadéra on X / Video Screenshot

KEY POINTS

  • Touadéra said $CAR's launch was an experimental project to demonstrate a memecoin's ability to "support national development"
  • The token's X handle has been suspended; Touadéra said the CAR government was working with X on the matter
  • Two AI deepfake detection models on Deepware raised red flags about Touadéra's token launch video on X
  • A crypto executive also raised issue with the $CAR token's domain, especially after Namecheap suspended it

The X account of Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin-Archange Touadéra shocked the cryptocurrency space on Sunday night after it was announced via the platform the country had just launched the CAR memecoin.

The memecoin was climbing back to a $500 million market cap as of early Monday, but late on Sunday, it reached a peak valuation of $527 million.

CAR price early Feb 10 2025 CAR price early Feb 10 2025
$CAR price early Feb. 10, 2025 DEX Screener

CAR president's X account announces memecoin

Touadéra said the memecoin launch was "an experiment designed to show how something as simple as a meme can unite people, support national development, and put the Central African Republic on the world stage in a unique way."

He went on to note that he has "always recognized the potential of crypto and its benefits on a global scale."

Shortly after the post was made, his account also published a video wherein he announced the memecoin's launch and also established a "news page" on X where daily updates will be provided.

X has since suspended the memecoin's page, @CARMeme_News, but Touadéra said the CAR government was coordinating with Elon Musk's social media platform to get the account reinstated as soon as possible.

CAR president's video a deepfake?

While it appears interest in the meme token is high, there are concerns around the cryptocurrency's launch.

Ensemble, an AI deepfake detection model on free deepfake checker tool Deepware, flagged the video on Touadéra's X handle as suspicious. In the video, Touadéra said the token was "the official memecoin" of CAR.

Another deepfake detection model, Seferbekov, detected 82% deepfake on the video. On the other hand, Deepware's own deepfake detector and another checking model, Avatrify, didn't detect any deepfake in the video.

It isn't just the deepfake detectors' scan results that raised questions about the CAR token.

Crypto exec flags $CAR website

Unrevealed XYZ Founder Yokai Ryujin warned "Crypto Twitter" and his crew in a series of posts on X to be "cautious" of the new token. He noted how the memecoin's website domain, car[dot]meme, was registered on Namecheap three days prior to its Sunday launch.

"Does not look like what president or a country would do," Yokai wrote.

Namecheap later confirmed that the domain, which it dubbed an "abusive service," has been placed "in a suspended state." Yokai acknowledged the assumptions could be wrong, but reiterated that a country's token website being suspended was a red flag.

CAR's crypto history

The Central African Republic has been leaning toward crypto in recent years. Following in the footsteps of El Salvador, the country adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in April 2022, becoming only the second nation to do so.

However, it repealed the legislation adopting BTC as legal tender after extreme backlash from other members of the Economic and Monetary Community in Central Africa.

Touadéra is also known for being a Bitcoin advocate.

The posts regarding the CAR token remain on Touadéra's X timeline as of early Monday despite concerns about the memecoin's legitimacy.

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