So much for Wakanda 2.0 then.
Senegal has officially axed plans for Akon City, the wildly ambitious $6 billion crypto-metropolis dreamed up by singer-turned-visionary Akon. You remember it — smart city, futuristic buildings, a full-on hospital, mall, school, police station, and solar power grid, all running on a cryptocurrency called Akoin. A slick promo reel, a handshake with the government, and even a reported groundbreaking back in 2019. Now? It’s dust.
“The Akon City project no longer exists,” said Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Senegal’s SAPCO tourism board, in a statement that cut through the hype like a machete through jungle undergrowth. According to the BBC, SAPCO and Akon have since agreed to pivot to something “realistic” — a project that presumably doesn’t hinge on an unstable cryptocurrency or a messianic vision of saving Africa via blockchain.
Akon’s pitch was nothing if not bold — a utopia built from scratch in his homeland, paid for by investors and powered by tech dreams. He once called it “a real-life Wakanda,” and in a way, it captured the same Afrofuturist energy. But like a lot of crypto-era promises, the reality never caught up with the narrative.
Akoin, the crypto backbone of the whole operation, has also taken a nosedive. Investors are reportedly still waiting to see returns, and Akon himself has admitted the venture was “not being managed properly.”
This isn’t just a failed real estate venture. It’s another case of celebrity techno-philanthropy hitting a wall of actual logistics — infrastructure, accountability, and basic realism. And yet, Akon is still out here teasing a presidential run and vowing to make more music before he gets too old to headline.
Akon’s legacy in Africa might still shine, thanks to past efforts like his solar energy initiatives. But Akon City, that’s going in the bin marked “crypto pipe dreams.” And while no one expected Silicon Valley in Senegal overnight, this one barely made it off the launchpad.
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