🌍 This Week in Web3forGood
Memecoins, National Experiments, and the Future of Crypto in Humanitarian Work
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Memecoins are dominating the conversation right now. This week, it’s Argentina’s $LIBRA scandal; just weeks ago, it was Central African Republic’s $CAR experiment. These viral tokens are sparking conversations — and raising serious questions, with many high-profile figures, including Mark Cuban and the Czech Central Bank Chief making a point to distance themselves from the frenzy. The broader discussion continues. Are these tokens merely a speculative casino 🎰, or is there potential for real-world impact 🌱?
This week, we take deep dive into the rise of memecoins 🪙🪙, explaining what exactly is going on, while unpacking what happened with both $CAR and $LIBRA. The general consensus remains that most of these tokens are volatile, high-risk ventures with little real utility. But CAR’s experiment, despite its flaws, raises an important question: Could digital currencies like these, if structured correctly, actually benefit people in underserved economies? We’re here to explore the nuances.
This isn’t financial advice, and we strongly caution any organization against jumping in too quickly. But if you’re watching this space, now is the time to be asking the right questions. How can Web3 be harnessed for real, positive impact? What safeguards need to be in place to ensure communities aren’t left holding the bag?
What are your thoughts? 🧠
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
🌊 Memecoins, National Experiments, and the Future of Crypto in Humanitarian Work
📣 Latest News
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And one more thing
🌊 Memecoins, National Experiments, and the Future of Crypto in Humanitarian Work
Deep Dive is where we offer a deeper look at a story, issue, project, or builder. If there's anything you're curious about, reply and let us know.
Editor’s Note: This series is written with the summary support of ChatGPT.
Earlier this month, the Central African Republic (CAR) launched a cryptocurrency called $CAR, a memecoin inspired by internet culture and viral trends. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra introduced the initiative as an experiment to unite people, support national development, and elevate the country's global profile. However, the project has since faced extreme volatility, security concerns, and significant scrutiny.
What exactly happened?
The $CAR memecoin project has been managed by COMIGEM, a state-owned mineral buying office. COMIGEM launched $CAR on the Solana blockchain, with 45% of its supply earmarked for "country development" and "charity." Initially, the token's market capitalization surged to over $800 million—nearly a third of CAR's 2023 GDP of $2.76 billion—before crashing to around $50 million.
Several immediate challenges emerged, including the suspension of its official project account on X (formerly Twitter), concerns over the authenticity of promotional materials, and reports of phishing schemes targeting users. Deepfake allegations surrounding President Touadéra's announcement video further fueled skepticism about the project's legitimacy.
As of February 20, 2025, $CAR's value has dropped by over 95%, and its future remains uncertain. Despite concerns, President Touadéra continues to champion the project as a "resounding success," emphasizing its long-term vision. However, its extreme volatility, security issues, and questions about legitimacy make it a cautionary tale for nations and organizations exploring similar ventures.
The Technicalities
But what does it mean to create a memecoin? What actually happened? Creating and launching a memecoin involves several steps:
Conceptualization: Defining a theme that resonates with a target audience, often based on internet culture or national identity.
Blockchain Selection: Choosing a blockchain to host the token. CAR opted for Solana, likely due to its scalability and lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum.
Smart Contract Development: Establishing the token's specifications and deploying the smart contract, which governs its functionality and transactions.
Security Audits: Ensuring the token is not vulnerable to hacks or exploits.
Token Distribution: Determining how tokens will be allocated (e.g., presales, airdrops, national reserves).
Liquidity Provision: Setting up trading pairs on decentralized exchanges to enable buying and selling.
Marketing and Community Engagement: Promoting the token to attract interest and build a trading community.
In CAR's case, the government sought to integrate the memecoin into broader socio-economic initiatives, positioning it as a tool for national development and charity.
International Response
The global reaction to $CAR has been divided. Some see it as an innovative financial tool, while others warn of potential risks.
Supporters argue that blockchain-based financial tools offer significant opportunities, particularly in transparency and traceability, allowing for real-time tracking of funds and reducing corruption in aid distribution. They also highlight the potential for financial inclusion, as cryptocurrencies can provide access to banking services for unbanked populations, and the efficiency of digital transactions, which can enable rapid, low-cost money transfers.
However, critics warn of serious challenges. The volatility of memecoins makes them unreliable as economic tools, while security concerns, including phishing schemes and fraud, pose risks to users. Regulatory uncertainty also undermines trust, as seen with the suspension of $CAR’s official channels and deepfake-related allegations. These concerns highlight the necessity of careful scrutiny before adopting such financial innovations.
How does the $CAR memecoin project differ from Argentina’s $LIBRA memecoin scandal that has dominated headlines this week?
The Central African Republic's (CAR) memecoin, $CAR, and Argentina's $LIBRA memecoin scandal both involve national leaders promoting cryptocurrencies, but they differ significantly in intent, execution, and outcomes.
Intent and Purpose
The $CAR memecoin was introduced by CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra as an experimental project aimed at uniting citizens, supporting national development, and enhancing the country's global profile. The initiative sought to demonstrate how a meme-inspired cryptocurrency could foster unity and contribute to national progress.
In contrast, the $LIBRA memecoin in Argentina became embroiled in controversy when President Javier Milei promoted it on social media in mid-February 2025. The token experienced a rapid surge in value, followed by a dramatic collapse, leading to allegations of a "rug pull" scam—a fraudulent scheme where developers withdraw liquidity, causing the token's value to plummet and leaving investors with worthless assets.
The $LIBRA token's launch was marked by President Milei's public endorsement, which significantly influenced its initial value surge. However, shortly after his promotion, substantial amounts of cryptocurrency were withdrawn by wallets linked to the token's creators, leading to a sharp decline in value and substantial losses for investors. This sequence of events has prompted legal investigations and widespread criticism.
Outcomes and Implications
While both memecoins experienced volatility, the $CAR initiative appears to have been a genuine, albeit flawed, attempt to explore innovative financial tools for national development. Its challenges seem to stem from execution issues and external perceptions rather than deliberate fraudulent intent.
In contrast, the $LIBRA memecoin's trajectory suggests elements of fraud, with orchestrated actions leading to significant financial losses for investors. The incident has resulted in legal actions, calls for President Milei's impeachment, and a broader debate about the ethical responsibilities of public figures in promoting financial products.
In summary, while both the $CAR and $LIBRA memecoins involve national leaders and experienced rapid value fluctuations, the $CAR project was an experimental initiative with developmental aims that faced implementation challenges. In contrast, the $LIBRA scandal involves allegations of intentional fraud, leading to severe financial and political repercussions.
Conclusion
While cryptocurrencies offer promising opportunities for enhancing humanitarian aid, they also present significant risks that must be managed carefully. Both the $CAR and $LIBRA experiments underscore the need for meticulous planning, regulatory oversight, and clear communication to ensure that digital financial innovations truly benefit vulnerable populations rather than exacerbate existing challenges. Humanitarian leaders must critically evaluate whether such tools align with their mission and the well-being of the communities they serve.
📣 Latest News
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Nigeria to tax cryptocurrency transactions for revenue boost
U.S.-Sanctioned Countries Such as Iran Leaning Heavily Into Crypto: Chainalysis
European Central Bank looks to create a blockchain-based payment system
Montana becomes 4th US state to advance Bitcoin reserve bill to House
Utah’s bitcoin reserve bill advances to Senate standing committee
10 stablecoin issuers approved under EU’s MiCA — Tether is left out
Hong Kong Confirms Bitcoin, Ether Can Be Used to Prove Wealth for Investment Visa
Argentina’s opposition threatens impeachment trial after Milei touts crypto coin
Project Updates
📚 What We’re Thinking About
🤝 Hawala and cryptocurrencies share similarities in their ability to facilitate fast, low-cost, and often anonymous transactions outside traditional banking systems. This makes crypto a natural extension of hawala’s trust-based model but also introduces new complexities for regulators. (Cointelegraph)
🌱 How Haraka is building community-driven lending models and prioritizing trust, relationships, and people over spreadsheets to redefine risk. (Jessica Gaubert)
✅ Crypto voters could tip the upcoming Australian federal election. (Cointelegraph)
🔗 Key technical changes as Celo transitions to an Ethereum L2. (@cLabs)
🔫 Google has dropped its promise not to use AI for weapons. It’s part of a troubling trend. (The Conversation US)
💵 Nigeria sues Binance for $81.5bn in economic losses and back tax. Authorities blame Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, for Nigeria’s currency woes and detained two of its executives in 2024 after crypto websites emerged as platforms of choice for trading the local naira currency. (The Guardian)
🧭 The Chaotic Moral Compass Accelerates. (rileybeans)
🔈 Podcasts & Spaces
Crypto Altruists Podcast - Episode 192 - Mercy Corps Ventures - How Web3 & AI are Transforming Humanitarian Aid with Anticipatory Action
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
Apply: SolarWise is hiring a Community & Marketing Manager.
Apply: Awana Digital is hiring a Senior Backend Developer.
Apply: AthenaDAO, a decentralized collective focused on funding women's health research and drug discovery, is collaborating with Merito Network to transform women's health in the Japanese market. Together, they have launched an open call for submissions for translational research on reproductive longevity. Apply by April 15th.
Participate: Collective Intelligence Project’s Global Dialogues convene thousands of people from around the world to set a vision - and concrete goals - for what world they want. The first dialogue centers around the fears, dreams, hopes, and attitudes people have about AI. CIP what you would like to ask the world. Selected responses will be used for future cadences.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
Crypto Altruist X Greenpill Dev Guild Space is happening February 21 TODAY. 🆕
RightsCon is happening February 24-27 (virtual and IRL). 🆕
Deregulating AI Labor: Deportation by Any Other Name is happening February 25 (virtual and IRL). 🆕
The ReFi Weekly with Trinity Morphy happens every Friday on X. Tune in to hear Trinity talk ReFi with some of the space's most influential names. 🆕
Climate Coordination Network is partnering with Octant for Epoch 7 Climate Round and will be hosting X Spaces spotlighting various projects over the next few weeks (the first was yesterday with Kokonut Network - listen to the replay). Keep an eye out for an announcement for dates/times for the series from @climate_program.
@civilmonkey’s Curated X Spaces focus on using Web3 for positive impact in the real world (+ recordings).
IRL
General Forum on Ethereum Localism is happening February 21-23 in Boulder, CO.
Athena DAO is hosting a breakfast in Berlin on February 22. 🆕
DWeb x g0v Local Network Workshop @ RightsCon is happening February 23 in Taipei. 🆕
ETHDenver is happening February 23 - March 2 in Denver.
RightsCon is happening February 24-27 in Taipei (virtual and IRL). 🆕
Deregulating AI Labor: Deportation by Any Other Name is happening February 25 in Cambridge, MA (virtual and IRL). 🆕
The Stable Summit is happening February 26 in Denver.
SheFi Summit is happening February 26 in Denver.
Schelling Point is happening February 27 in Denver.
Policy Week by Blockchain APAC is happening March 10-14 in Sydney.
Ethereum San Francisco Week 2025 is happening March 10-16 across San Francisco.
<d/acc day> is happening March 13 in Berkeley, CA.
Funding the Commons is happening March 15 in San Francisco.
2025 Decentralized Tech Summit is happening April 2 in Washington D.C.
Paris Blockchain Week is happening April 8-10 in Paris.
FIL Dev Summit 6 is happening May 12-13 in Toronto.
All Tech Is Human x Consulate General of Finland New York will host a curated gathering on strengthening multistakeholder collaboration in Responsible AI on May 21st in NYC.
Collaborative Finance Gathering is happening June 16-20 at The Commons Hub in Austria.
ETHSafari 2025 is happening September 7-14 in Nairobi.
Recurring
Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved next on February 22 and share on X to @HighlyArtistic with the hashtag #MonthlyEarthDay.
Hosting an event that you’d like to see listed? Reply here or send us a DM.
📡 On Our Radar
Collective Intelligence Project has launched the Global Dialogues to convene thousands of people. These global dialogues bring people from around the world together to set a vision - and concrete goals - for what world they want. The first dialogue centers around the fears, dreams, hopes, and attitudes people have about AI.
Circle Dev Summits are a brand-new series of global developer events launching in 2025. These events are designed specifically for the Circle developer ecosystem, providing builders with opportunities to expand their toolset and network.
✨ And One More Thing
