Interpretation of the Web3 Gold Nuggets in the Central African Republic

Author: Will Awang

In August 2023, the Sango team, a national digital currency project in the Central African Republic (CAR), stated that the country's legislature had passed the Tokenization Law, which will regulate the tokenization of land and natural resources in the future. There will be no legal obstacles to the operation.

The Central African Republic became the second country (after El Salvador) to accept Bitcoin as legal tender in April 2022, and officially launched the Sango project in July last year to support the "encryption initiative" launched by the country's parliament. At present, the country has become one of the most cryptocurrency-friendly countries in the world's underdeveloped regions.

This article will use the white paper of the Sango project to see what a sovereign country's digital currency Sango project is doing. Separate the project itself, and look at why an underdeveloped country in Africa has such faith and determination in Bitcoin and blockchain technology from the perspective of the country.

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National Digital Currency Project - Sango

The Sango project is an important project in the "Encryption Initiative" initiated by the Parliament of the Central African Republic and has received the support of the President of the Republic. The Sango project represents the determination of the Central African Republic to build a blockchain-based digital economy. According to the Roadmap of the Sango project, the main milestones of the project in the future include: (1) To provide investors with democratic and decentralized investment channels through the tokenization of land and natural resources; (2) To build encrypted cities and encrypted islands; ( 3) Develop into an African encryption center; (4) Build Sango App: as a bridge between residents and cities; (5) Support Bitcoin mining projects through sustainable energy.

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The Sango project is responsible for issuing the ecological native token SANGO, with a total supply of 21 billion pieces. This is a "national digital currency" launched by the Central African Republic in July 2022. It is reported that SANGO is deployed on the Bitcoin side chain, and the main advantage of the side chain is that it can obtain the full liquidity of Bitcoin.

As a stake in the SANGO ecosystem, holders can obtain corresponding benefits by providing different investment amounts and locking pledges, including investing US$60,000 worth of SANGO tokens to obtain citizenship (5-year pledge), and investing US$6,000 worth of SANGO tokens Obtain the right of residence (mortgage for 3 years), and invest $10,000 worth of SANGO tokens to obtain land-like rights and interests (mortgage for 10 years), etc.

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The first two rights and interests are well understood, and the third land property right (Land Property) has not yet been unlocked, and no clear legal explanation has been provided. Currently only available through the official website:

The government of the Central African Republic is the largest land owner in the country. It expects to sell part of the land ownership (Ownership) through tokenization. The way to sell is to invest in SANGO tokens worth 10,000 US dollars to obtain a land-based interest in a plot (pledge refund after 10 years), etc. Each plot has an area of 250 square meters and is located in the Crypto City residential area on the banks of the Ubangi River in the Bangui extension of the capital.

At the same time, the Sango team will develop the Crypto City metaverse project with 1:1 frequency, and investors can manage properties in the metaverse. The Sango website shows that the house/land that investors bought in the metaverse can also be obtained in reality. This experience gives people the feeling of an online metaverse sales office.

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Natural Resource Tokenization Act

On August 22, 2023, the Sango project team announced that the country's legislature had passed the Tokenization Act. The Tokenization Act clears the way for future tokenization of real-world assets such as land, agriculture, and natural resources. Among other provisions of the bill, it will make it possible to obtain business visas online and allow citizens and foreigners to "easily" start businesses and obtain licenses for real estate, agriculture, natural resource extraction and forestry.

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Although what I can see from Sango’s official website is only the country-level investment promotion of the Central African Republic in the encrypted world, and it is clear that SANGO tokens can provide national-level rights and interests (Utility), such as land, agriculture, natural resources, etc. The specific tokenization path of real-world assets needs to be further clarified and accompanied by legal explanations.

But in any case, the tokenization of natural resources can indeed bring a lot of convenience to issuers or investors. This means that investors all over the world can easily use the Sango app to invest in these scarce natural resource assets through SANGO tokens. This will facilitate rapid access to tokenized capital for assets in the Central African Republic, and present them on the blockchain in a transparent and democratic manner, while enabling wider investor participation through a non-accessible and fragmented approach.

This is the long-term goal of the launch of the Sango project, as it will help investors more easily invest in the Central African Republic to develop regions rich in natural resources, without complex procedures such as at least on the legal level of cross-border investment , such as the approval of foreign investment, the entry and exit of funds, the investment country's entry threshold restrictions, bilateral tax agreements, anti-monopoly review, landed joint venture company governance, operations, etc.

According to the Sango website, the Central African Republic has an estimated $2.2 trillion worth of iron ore, $258 billion worth of diamond mines, $60 billion worth of gold mines, $7 billion worth of graphite mines, $5 billion worth of uranium mines and $2 billion limestone mine.

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Belief and certainty in bitcoin and blockchain

By reading the white paper of the Sango project, we can see that those underdeveloped areas in the world that we have ignored have a positive desire to have a dialogue with the world at the same frequency. Instead of struggling and dominating in the old system, why not fully embrace Bitcoin and blockchain technology and head towards a bright future.

According to the white paper of the Sango project: "Blockchain is considered to be one of the pillars of the fourth industrial revolution. Blockchain technology provides a valuable opportunity for underdeveloped countries such as the Central African Republic to establish an effective national digital currency system. At the same time, achieve the same level of development as developed countries. For a country where most of the population does not have bank accounts, the reconstruction of the entire economic system through the blockchain technology framework represents an opportunity to enter the Web3 revolution by leaps and bounds."

Therefore, the Central African Republic will establish a complete legal framework supporting cryptocurrencies and crypto activities at all levels, including (1) Bitcoin as legal tender (at least the anchor currency); (2) all cryptocurrency-related activities (3) Enactment of other relevant applicable laws.

Following the passage of the Tokenization Act, the President of the Central African Republic stated in a press release: “The Central African Republic has made a major blockchain strategic shift, using an innovative system to mobilize financial and fiscal resources to promote local Community development. This innovative tokenization legislative framework, adopted for the first time in the world, will make the Central African Republic one of the most crypto-friendly business environments on the African continent.”

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The Shackles of History

The Central African Republic is one of the least developed countries in the world. Its economy is dominated by agriculture and its industrial base is weak. More than 80% of its industrial products are imported. Due to its remote location in sub-Saharan Africa, and historical reasons (French colonization, armed coups, chaotic governance, etc.), the Central African Republic missed out on several previous industrial revolutions, leading people to overlook the untapped potential of the land , and in fact the same is true across much of Africa.

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The future of the Central African Republic will be carried by young people, who must be freed from the shackles of history in order to achieve national change. Therefore, the vision of the Central African Republic is to reform the entire economic system to accommodate young people and new technologies, and is seeking to establish a digital currency system based on blockchain technology and based on Bitcoin "digital gold".

The Sango team predicts that by 2030, sub-Saharan Africa or the entire African continent has the potential to achieve leapfrog development. The large local young population and the huge untapped natural resources are two factors driving this leapfrog development. Very important pillar. Of course the need to employ appropriate technology is key to ensuring this is achieved.

Bitcoin and blockchain technology have achieved greater growth in Africa in recent years. Due to the lack of mature banking and financial systems in Africa, the point-to-point electronic cash payment system of Bitcoin is effectively used in cross-border payments. In addition, fiat currencies in African countries have very high inflation, lack of use cases and exchange controls, which are some cases of outdated systems that have not yet been resolved/changed. And digital currencies may represent a ready-made solution for a better future.

Synchronized with the world again

We can see that underdeveloped countries represented by the Central African Republic, whether in the creation of the currency system or in the construction of the digital economy, are not satisfied with the compromise with the old system and the old system, rather than struggling in the mud And being dominated, why not fully embrace Bitcoin and blockchain technology and head towards a bright future.

Obviously, they don't intend to spend precious funds on the early construction of traditional finance, and they don't want to repeat the path traveled by the United States and China. Instead, they hope to take one step and jump directly into the Web3 era, so as to achieve the same frequency with the world again opportunity for development.

It can be seen that these countries have a set of real logic in their belief and determination in Bitcoin and blockchain technology, even though the road is full of thorns.

![Interpretation of the Web3 Gold Nuggets Road in the Central African Republic] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/resized-social/moments-69a80767fe-b047c6cba9-dd1a6f-1c6801) (Coindesk: Crypto Is Quietly Thriving in Sub- Saharan Africa: Chainalysis Report)