Akon’s ambitious plan to build a real-life Wakanda in Senegal is officially dead.
Videos by According2HipHop
According to Senegalese officials, the $6 billion “Akon City” project—once pitched as a futuristic metropolis powered by cryptocurrency and solar energy—has been scrapped. “The Akon City project no longer exists,” confirmed Serigne Mamadou Mboup, head of Sapco-Senegal, the state agency overseeing coastal and tourism development.
Originally announced in 2020, Akon’s vision promised a high-tech utopia: luxury condos, amusement parks, a seaside resort, hospitals, and a university—all running on his Akoin cryptocurrency. The project was to rise on 136 acres just outside Dakar, gifted by the Senegalese government.
But according to Bloomberg, all that ever got built was a youth center, a basketball court, and a small information office. Missed payments, delays, and a sharp drop in the value of Akoin eventually pushed Senegalese authorities to give Akon an ultimatum in 2024. When progress didn’t happen, Sapco pulled the plug and reclaimed the land.
“Fortunately, an agreement has been reached between Sapco and the entrepreneur Alioune Badara Thiam \[Akon],” Mboup added. “What he’s preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support.”
Instead of Akon City, Sapco now plans to invest \$1.2 billion into the same area, developing hotels, apartments, a marina, and a promenade aimed at driving tourism—without the crypto-fueled promises.
Akon has yet to publicly comment on the shutdown.
