CAR, the memecoin of the Central African Republic, collapsed 96.7% in just over 24 hours from its Monday peak amid confusion over its legitimacy.

Launched late Sunday, the memecoin rose to a peak price of $0.89 in the early hours of Monday morning — equivalent to a market cap of around $894 million.

However, CAR has since plunged to a low of $0.029 as of early Tuesday, a market cap of approximately $29 million, according to data from DEX Screener, having generated $143.4 million in 24-hour trading volume.

CAR market cap in USD. Image: DEX Screener.

The memecoin sector has been particularly hard hit following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements over the past week, with GMCI Meme, an index of leading memecoins by market cap, dropping around 40% in just a few days before recovering slightly. Trump’s own official memecoin, launched on Jan. 18, is currently down around 79% from its peak to $16.11, per The Block’s TRUMP Price Page.

“Today, we are launching $CAR — 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,” President Faustin-Archange Touadéra said in the initial announcement via his official X account. “As the second president in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, I have always recognized the potential of crypto and its benefits on a global scale.”

However, CAR token’s launch was met with skepticism and warnings of a potential scam, especially given the number of high-profile X accounts getting hacked in recent weeks to promote fake tokens — including the official X account of Nasdaq and that of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The poor quality of President Touadéra’s initial greenscreen video discussing the memecoin and announcement of an official X account for the memecoin that was subsequently suspended also didn't help exude confidence in the token.

The President said his administration was working with X to restore the memecoin’s account, adding that the token supply had been “securely locked” through the token management infrastructure platform Streamflow, according to the project’s tokenomics. A new X account for the memecoin was subsequently launched.

According to its website, the CAR project allocated 35% of its 1 billion token supply to country development and 25% to “creators and company.” Of the remaining, 20.7% is set aside for liquidity, 10% for charity and 9.3% for public distribution. A small percentage of the country's development, charity and public distribution pools were unlocked at launch. Each allocation has a varying cliff of between one to three months with a daily unlock schedule over the 24 months thereafter.

A disclaimer on the site states: “Central African Republic meme is not intended to function as an investment, security, or financial instrument of any kind. It is designed solely for fun, community engagement, and as a symbol of unity of the community. $CAR has no intrinsic value and should not be viewed as a financial asset.”

Despite fears of a potential scam following CAR’s launch, President Touadéra has continued to post about the token and the initiatives it is being used to support.

On Monday, the President took to X again to express his gratitude to the crypto community for “believing in our vision,” declaring the launch of CAR a success. “We are building for the long term,” he said.

Later in the day, President Touadéra followed up with a new video depicting the rapid deterioration of a high school in recent years, with students at risk of losing their access to education. “With the help of the $CAR meme, we are able to support the rebuilding and furnishing of the school, giving students a chance for a better future,” he wrote. $50,000 worth of tokens from the country development pool will be allocated to support the school's repairs over the next 30 days, the President explained.

The Central African Republic is no stranger to crypto, making headlines in 2022 when it became the second country in the world to accept bitcoin as a legal tender, following El Salvador. However, that legislation, like El Salvador’s, was later repealed.

The same year, the country also launched Sango Coin, its national cryptocurrency, to create a digital economy based on the tokenization of its minerals.

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