Remember Akon’s Futuristic Crypto City? Here’s the Brutal Reality After 7 Years

Senegal has formally scrapped Akon’s much-hyped plans to construct a futuristic, crypto-powered metropolis on its Atlantic coast.

The West African nation is reclaiming many of the land as soon as put aside for the mission and shifting focus to a scaled-back, privately funded tourism hub.

“Actual-Life Wakanda” No Extra

First introduced in 2018 and branded as a “real-life Wakanda,” Akon Metropolis aimed to remodel Mbodiène, a quiet farming village about 80 kilometers from Dakar, right into a $6 billion metropolis working on Akon’s Akoin cryptocurrency. Plans included a solar-powered metropolis with a state-of-the-art hospital, college, resorts, purchasing malls, and a marina.

After repeated delays, missed funds, and a last ultimatum from Senegal’s tourism improvement physique SAPCO in 2024, the nation terminated Akon Metropolis. The SAPCO Common Supervisor, Serigne Mamadou Mboup, confirmed,

“The Akon Metropolis mission now not exists.”

Many of the 136 acres granted to Akon in 2020 at the moment are again beneath state management. Whereas the grand imaginative and prescient of a futuristic crypto metropolis in Senegal has ended, Akon isn’t totally strolling away. The singer will retain eight hectares of the land as a part of a revised plan with SAPCO for a smaller-scale improvement.

Senegal Debt Disaster Deepens

The timing displays Senegal’s financial challenges. The nation is grappling with a debt disaster after a state audit revealed $7 billion in hidden liabilities beneath the earlier administration, which has capped entry to credit score markets and frozen IMF funding.

In opposition to this backdrop, SAPCO’s revised $1.2 billion plan for Mbodiène will rely closely on non-public traders to remodel the world right into a tourism hub with resorts, flats, and a promenade linking to a close-by lagoon.

Regardless of the hype, Akon Metropolis’s seen progress was restricted to a youth middle, a basketball courtroom, and a small welcome middle, leaving early Akoin consumers demanding refunds and a few residents skeptical of huge guarantees. The brand new plan is anticipated to create round 15,000 jobs in its first part, providing a tangible alternative for native funding and employment that even the grandest crypto visions couldn’t ship.