Many blockchain enthusiasts like to describe the technology as a tool that will allow users to seize self-determination. Meanwhile, one blockchain firm appears poised to play ball with Faure Gnassingbé, who is widely considered to be a dictator.
Two days after announcing[1] that cryptocurrency exchange Binance[2] would, along with partners, "support Uganda's economic transformation and youth employment through blockchain," CEO Changpeng Zhao[3] took to Twitter again to share some news regarding the company's plans for another African state: Togo.
Binance and the Gnassingbé Government
One post[4] read, "to embark a new journey for Africa to embrace the 4th industrial revolutions for the youth. The aim of the project is to create thousands of jobs and brings billions of investments to Togo."
A few minutes later, another[5] followed, which stated, "This is a physical letter signed by the Prime Minister of Togo, hand delivered to us minutes before we stepped onto the plane, from a meeting merely a day ago." (The image, no longer available on Twitter at press time, is reproduced and translated below.)
The letter mentioned a proposed partnership through which Binance and the Togolese government would "engage Togo in the fourth industrial revolution" by "developing training programs for the youth to create many jobs for them and attracting important investments."
Considering that news of this partnership follows at least one meeting[6] between Zhao and Togo's president, and in light of Zhao's suggestion that Togo could receive billions of dollars' worth of investments as a result, it seems quite likely that Binance's activities in the country will have an additional effect: propping up the presidency of Faure Gnassingbé. This is because, as a partner on the project,
