Central African Republic has launched a meme coin in what President Faustin-Archange Touadera said was a bid to raise the profile of one of the world's poorest countries.

CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra's X account posted about the launch of the country's $CAR meme coin, but even with a $500 million market cap, there were "red flags" raised about the token's launch.

Bitcoin was abolished as an official means of payment in the African country. Now a meme coin is to "support national development".

The Central African Republic has unveiled a national meme coin, with the leadership stating that the initiative aims to promote unity.

He pointed out that launching the coin at 1 AM Central African Time seemed suspicious. Although the President claimed to lock the token supply through Streamflow, he still had control. He could cancel, withdraw or dump tokens at any time.

The Central African Republic's $CAR memecoin has risen to a $530M market cap, but deepfake issues and insider cashouts raise doubts.

Faustin-Archange Touadéra, president of the Central African Republic, said on X that the country’s memecoin was “an experiment designed to show how something as simple as a meme can unite people, support national development and put CAR on the world stage in a unique way”.