Court prohibits e-residency and citizenship purchases with CAR's Sango Coin

Central African Republic's (CAR) Constitutional Court has declared the purchase of citizenship, "e-residency" and land using Sango Coin, a cryptocurrency the government launched in July is unconstitutional.

According to the court, nationality does not have a market value while residency requires a physical stay in the CAR.

Recall that, in May 2022, the republic launched an initiative tagged Project Sango. The initiative is designed to allow foreign investors to buy citizenship for $60,000 worth of crypto—with the equivalent Sango Coins held as collateral for five years and "e-residency" for $6,000, held for three years.

"Following the unanimous adoption by the National Assembly of the bitcoin legal tender status, we are pleased to showcase the first concrete initiative! It goes beyond politics and administration, and has the potential to reshape CAR's financial system," Faustin-Archange Touadera, the President of the Republic tweeted during the unveiling of Project Sango.

Touadera also said that the initiative is backed by the CAR's "Bitcoin law" which also specifies the establishment of the National Agency for Regulation of Electronic Transactions.

The initial sales of the Central African Republic’s (CAR) Sango Coin was flat with just over 5% of the target bought in the hours after its launch on Monday 25 July, according to a report from Reuters. Of the initial $21 million on offer, only about $1.09m had been sold by 11.15 GMT on Tuesday 26 July, after it went on sale at 17.00 GMT the previous day.

Central African Republic is the first African country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, and the second country in the world to make the adoption—after El Salvador. CAR's adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender attracted several criticisms and warnings from various analysts and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"The adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in CAR raises major legal, transparency, and economic policy challenges. IMF staff are assisting the region and Central African Republic’s authorities in addressing the concerns posed by the new law." the Fund stated in May 2022.