This weekend was marked by several developments in the meme coin space, reminding us of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the market.
The most recent news was shared by the X account of the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who announced the launch of the CAR meme coin.
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.
undefined Faustin-Archange Touadéra (@FA_Touadera) February 9, 2025
Contract: 7oBYdEhV4GkXC19ZfgAvXpJWp2Rn9pm1Bx2cVNxFpump
In the first hours after the announcement, the crypto community was still in doubt about whether the president’s account had been hacked, especially since it posted a video that looked like an AI-generated video of the president.
Meanwhile, the account also announced that a dedicated X page for CAR-related news was launched. However, X has since suspended it, and the president’s account now claims that they are working with the platform to get the page back as soon as possible.
The original announcement, explaining the rationale behind the launch, claimed that this is "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."
The President of the Central African Republic has announced a memecoin. Its market cap is ~20% of the country's 2023 GDP.
undefined Conor (@jconorgrogan) February 10, 2025
At $2.5 the meme token's market cap will equal the GDP of the CAR pic.twitter.com/Te6Lq3iwJE
At the same time, in the same thread, an account named after Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, chimed in, saying, "After the success of $CAR I have decided to start Republic of Kongo token. Thank you for your suggestions. We make it together."
The CAR news followed another meme coin-related development, this time in the US, where music megastar Kanye West rejected a meme coin offer.
"I was proposed two million dollars to scam my community. Those left of it. I said no and stopped working with the person who proposed it."
West also shared a picture that looks like a screenshot of a private conversation, where a person who supposedly contacted West promised to get the musician the phone number of Brian Armstrong, the CEO of major crypto exchange Coinbase.
However, West thanked Elon Musk, the owner of X, for allowing him "to vent" and left X once again as his account "no longer exists."
Meanwhile, while West checked out, Hailey Welch of Hawk Tuah girl fame resurfaced after months of silence since her meme coin project HAWK tanked.
In a leaked episode of an unpublished podcast, titled "My Crypto Failure," she reportedly said that a "friend of a friend" came up with the meme coin idea and that "it was supposed to be a ‘long-term coin.’" She also said that she feels "really bad about all the people that got affected by it" and that they are "trying to sort it out and make everything right."
‘Hawk Tuah’ girl, Haliey Welch, broke down into tears while talking about the alleged rugpull of her coin
undefined Dexerto (@Dexerto) February 7, 2025
pic.twitter.com/DhJ0SZKj1j
In either case, the last three months have been harsh for meme coins. Out of the top 50 listed, only six are in the green, with the TRUMP meme coin being among the leaders with a 273% gain. The rest are down anywhere between 9% and 92%.
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