Raised $20 Million for Daughter's Medical Bills in Three Hours, "Web3 Crowdfunding" MIRA's Christmas Miracle
“If you could press a button to immediately end your own life and cure a child's brain tumor as a result, every parent would not hesitate to be the first to press the button. But the cruelest part is, such a button simply does not exist,” Mira's dad, Chen Siqi, wrote on Twitter. His calm yet loving words reveal his helplessness and bewilderment.
The Story Behind the Death Button
On September 23 this year, Chen Siqi's daughter Mira was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called craniopharyngioma. Although this tumor is benign, it is located in a very dangerous part of the brain, and any slight mistake could lead Mira to suffer from the disease and lose her ability to take care of herself.
Chen Siqi has been actively collaborating with Dr. Todd Hankinson from the University of Colorado, the only one in the world studying this tumor, to secure bi-weekly intravenous injection trials for his daughter to suppress the tumor's growth. However, there is currently no fully effective treatment for this tumor, and researching such a rare disease requires substantial financial support. So, this Christmas, Chen Siqi embarked on his web3 "crowdfunding" journey.
Chen Siqi began posting on Twitter, calling on netizens to donate to Hankinson's lab. A movement to save the girl Mira unfolded on Twitter, with heavyweights such as former Uber CEO Ronak and hellopatient co-founder Alex stepping up for Mira.
It seems the heavens heard every helpless cry from Chen Siqi in the corner of the room, saw every tear he secretly wiped behind the door. Within just 3 hours after Chen Siqi's post, he quickly raised $75,000 through gofund.me. As of now, Chen Siqi has raised $224,000, 25% away from his $300,000 goal.
Web3 Crowdfunding Resurgence
However, what seems to be a story of a friend circle crowdfunding renaissance on Twitter has only just begun. In addition to fundraising through Web2, Chen Siqi did not forget to include his Solana and BTC addresses.
Mira's story was able to break into the crypto scene, thanks to the efforts of two men.
One of them is Shaw, who is still preaching in China. After learning about Mira's situation, Shaw donated $100,000 worth of $degenai tokens to Chen Siqi's wallet to help their family through tough times. The other is Dev from pump.fun who created the token Waddles. After witnessing Mira's story, Waddles donated 50% of the $MIRA tokens to this father who was running around to treat his daughter's illness. Where there is attention, there is funding flow. With the support of Shaw, Ronak, and other Web3 and Web2 personalities, MIRA experienced a nearly 60x price increase in less than 3 hours.
So, who is Chen Siqi, and why did Shaw pay attention to her? Chen Siqi is the founder and CEO of Runway, a startup backed by a16z. Chen Siqi also served as the CEO of SandVR (a16z) and the Chief Product Officer of Postmates (later acquired by Uber). It is because of his professional background that he received such widespread support from the "big shots."
At the same time, Bio Protocol also took note of this scientific donation event and believes that decentralized scientific funding will become a major use case for crypto in the next cycle. Rare disease research is rarely funded in real life, and the pump.fun and MIRA incident have further pushed the Desci narrative to a climax.
Through the interaction between Bio Protocol and Shaw, MIRA has become the iconic Meme of the Desci concept.
Dad Chen Walking on a Tightrope: How Should the Donation Be Handled?
Despite having a large amount of funding, how to handle this donation is also a question. Obviously, Chen Siqi is also at a loss. If this funding is managed well, not only can it raise funds for his daughter, but it can also further broaden the development direction of Desci. If mishandled, it will not only cause public outrage but may also be similar to the judge's question, "If it wasn't you who touched it, why did you help?"—people will not foot the bill for similar cases again.
Therefore, Chen Siqi handled the situation very cautiously. As early as 4 hours ago, Chen Siqi announced his intention to sell 10% of the supply at some point today to donate to the Hansen Lab, with the remaining portion being reserved, accounting for 5% of the total supply. Unless announced at least 24 hours in advance, he will not sell any more tokens. Furthermore, in terms of fund management, Chen Siqi has started soliciting the opinions of netizens on Twitter regarding selling a portion of his own position, while also announcing that any newly injected funds will be entirely donated to the Hansen Lab for cancer research.
Although Chen Siqi's and Mira's stories received mixed reviews on Twitter, blockchain has proven the feasibility of on-chain donations and fundraising through its transparency and widespread participation. The flow of each fund can be guaranteed under public scrutiny. Perhaps on-chain donations will be a dawn before the large-scale application of Web3.
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