Hut 8's $7 Billion AI Deal and Central African Republic's Controversial Crypto Push Highlight New Financial and Technological Trends
Hut 8, a Bitcoin mining company operating across the US and Canada, has signed a $7 billion, 15-year data-center deal with Fluidstack, which is backed by Google, to power AI compute at the 245MW River Bend campus in Louisiana. The agreement, with renewal options potentially increasing its value to $17.7 billion, involves financing and loan underwriting by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. The project is expected to create up to 265 jobs in Louisiana, with the first data hall completion projected for Q2 2027. The deal includes cooperation with the State of Louisiana, Entergy, Vertiv, and Jacobs and signals Hut 8's strategic pivot from purely crypto mining to include AI compute infrastructure, reflecting a broader trend among Bitcoin miners to expand into AI with support from Google-backed initiatives.
In contrast, the Central African Republic (CAR) has been at the center of a controversial crypto push that a Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) report warns is concentrating wealth and increasing vulnerability to elite capture and foreign criminal networks. CAR adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and introduced the Sango Coin in mid-2022 and a meme token in early 2025. However, Bitcoin's legal tender status was rescinded in March 2023 following criticism from international bodies, regulators, and CAR institutions, including the Constitutional Court. The Sango Coin rollout promised infrastructure developments such as a Crypto City and e-residency, but only a small fraction of tokens has been sold and many promised outcomes remain unfulfilled. The meme coin displayed extreme volatility and opaque governance, raising concerns over manipulation.
The report highlights the involvement of foreign private actors and individuals with fraud histories linked to President Touadéra. It suggests that the initiatives were designed to enrich an insider circle and facilitate foreign influence and transnational crime, especially through tokenization of resources and land, which heightens the risk of misappropriation. Domestic challenges such as weak oversight, limited electricity and internet access, and ongoing insecurity restrict public participation and oversight. CAR is currently working with regional regulators to align crypto policies with monetary frameworks. Without stronger regulation, public education, and international cooperation, CAR’s crypto ventures risk further entrenching elite dominance and exposing the country to criminal and financial vulnerabilities.
