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- $CAR memecoin surged to $530M market cap but faced deepfake detection and domain registration issues, raising legitimacy concerns.
- Despite early volatility, $CAR memecoin shows strong investor interest with over $545M in transactions, but its future remains uncertain.
The Central African Republic (CAR), under the leadership of President Faustion-Archange Touadéra, has launched a memecoin named $CAR, aiming to unite its people, drive national development, and place the country on the global stage.
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.
Contract: 7oBYdEhV4GkXC19ZfgAvXpJWp2Rn9pm1Bx2cVNxFpump
— Faustin-Archange Touadéra (@FA_Touadera) February 9, 2025
As noted by CNF, the move came after CAR became the second country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. However, this launch has not been without controversy, with concerns raised about the authenticity of the announcement and the integrity of the project itself.
Following the memecoin’s release on the Solana-based launchpad Pump.fun, $CAR saw a rise in market value. Within hours of its launch, the coin’s market capitalization surged to $530 million. The price of the memecoin climbed from $0.28 to $0.67, an increase in value. This spike in price was accompanied by a rise in trading volume, indicating heightened market interest and potential speculative activity.
Source: Dexscreener
Despite the ongoing questions about the authenticity of the launch, $CAR continues to see active participation in the market. The token’s market cap remains approximately $289.2 million, and its fully diluted valuation mirrors this figure.
Although the trading volume has decreased from its initial surge, it still shows strong investor interest. The price action, marked by early volatility followed by a period of consolidation, implies that investors are monitoring the token for signs of stability or possible upward movement.
Following the market surge, LookOnChain, an analytic firm, noted that one trader profited with about 2,450x gains from the launch, turning an investment of 25 SOL (roughly $5,000) into $12 million in under three hours. As the price peaked, the asset then experienced a correction, with its value stabilizing around $0.33 by the end of the trading session.
Turned $5K into $12M in less than 3 hours—a 2450x return, incredible!
This guy spent 25 $SOL($5K) to buy 46.57M $CAR within one second of @FA_Touadera posting the contract address, and then sold 22.65M $CAR for 8,395 $SOL($1.67M), leaving 23.92M $CAR ($10.5M).
The total profit… pic.twitter.com/LSBOAllElo
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 10, 2025
However, the $CAR memecoin has seen trading activity, with a total of $545.6 million transactions and 391,791 individual trades recorded. Notably, the buying pressure surpassed selling, with 221,586 purchases compared to 170,205 sales, revealing a strong level of investor confidence in the token despite its fluctuations in price.
Concerns Over the Video Announcement and Deepfake Detection
While the memecoin’s market performance has captured attention, questions surrounding its legitimacy have emerged. President Touadéra’s announcement video, which introduced the $CAR token, was flagged by at least two AI-based deepfake detection tools as suspicious.
One of the tools, Deepware, showed an 82% likelihood that the video was a deepfake. This raised doubts about the authenticity of the announcement, as deepfake technology has become an increasing concern in the digital age.
Further scrutiny has been directed at the domain registration process for the CAR memecoin’s official website. The domain “car.meme,” was registered just three days before the announcement, which experts deemed an unusual move for a government-backed initiative. Additionally, the choice of Namecheap, a budget-friendly domain provider, also raised concerns about the professionalism of the project’s launch.
As the controversy surrounding the memecoin deepened, Namecheap took action and suspended the domain, citing it as an “abusive service.” However, the official website for the $CAR token remained operational at publication, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the project’s legitimacy.
