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.
You may also like
CFTC Reportedly Plans New Prediction Market Rules Focused on Manipulation Risk and Public Interest Review
The CFTC is reportedly preparing new prediction market rules focused on manipulation risk, public interest review, and retail trader protections.
Meet the new WEEX trial fund—your gateway to greater profits
WEEX Labs Lands at Dutch Blockchain Week: A Disruptive Crypto × AI Conversation Sets Sail in Amsterdam
SK Hynix Reportedly Plans U.S. ADR Listing as Early as August, With SEC Approval Possible in Late June
SK Hynix may pursue a U.S. ADR listing as early as August, with SEC approval reportedly possible in late June amid strong AI chip supply chain demand.
SpaceX vs Tesla vs xAI: Which Elon Musk Trade Has the Biggest Upside in 2026?
OpenAI Reveals It Has Confidentially Submitted an S-1 to the SEC, Keeping the Door Open for a Future IPO
On June 9, according to an OpenAI announcement, the company recently confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), beginning the preliminary compliance process for a potential initial public offering. OpenAI said it chose to disclose this proactively because it expected the news might leak; however, the company has not yet set a specific listing timeline, and related arrangements may still take some time.
Latest research from 13 top universities including Cornell University: The current state, challenges, and misconceptions of the fusion of Crypto and AI
Deconstructing Anthropic: The Best AI Company, Possibly Also a Type of Organizational Invention
Apollo and Blackstone Reportedly Back $35 Billion Anthropic Chip Financing as Deal Details Remain Unclear
On June 9, according to currently available news alerts, Apollo and Blackstone Group participated in a $35 billion financing for an Anthropic “chip project.” Based on the original wording of the report, the funding has already been raised, but public information remains limited. The financing structure, use of proceeds, project entity, and whether Apollo and Blackstone participated through equity, debt, or project financing have not yet been disclosed.
Humanity Protocol Security Incident Escalates: More Than $31 Million Stolen From Related Addresses as Attacker Continues Selling H for ETH
On June 9, according to monitoring by Onchain Lens, more than $31 million has been stolen from addresses linked to Humanity Protocol, and the attack is still ongoing, with the hacker continuously swapping H tokens for ETH. Project founder Terence Kwok later confirmed the security incident on X, saying the issue involved a private key leak.
Bloomberg: As Bitcoin Weakens, Stablecoins and RWA Continue to Drive Expansion in Crypto Businesses
In June, Bloomberg reported that despite Bitcoin falling below $60,000 last week, wiping out about $235 billion in market value within seven days, and dropping close to 50% from last year’s peak, some core businesses in the crypto industry are still expanding, mainly in stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization (RWA), payments, and infrastructure. The report also noted that overall altcoin activity has contracted significantly: altcoin market capitalization has fallen from a peak of about $431 billion in November 2021 to around $170 billion, and among the tens of millions of tokens issued in recent years, fewer than 1,700 still maintain meaningful trading activity.
Galaxy Deep Research Report: How Hyperliquid's HIP-4 Upgrade Changes the Landscape of Prediction Markets?
Binance Research: RWA Market Expected to Expand Nearly 6x from Early 2025, with Public Equities and Onchain Payments Heating Up Together
In June, Binance Research said in its monthly market report that the real-world asset (RWA) market is expected to grow by about 589% from the beginning of 2025. Bond- and money market fund-related RWA expanded by about $6.5 billion, up 83% year over year, while publicly traded equity RWAs grew by about 422%. The report also noted that monthly crypto debit card transaction volume exceeded $747 million in May, up 48.6% year to date.
Japan to Assess a Framework for Yen Stablecoins and Crypto ETFs as Asia’s Compliant Payments Narrative Heats Up
Recently, according to the original report, Japan is considering the launch of yen stablecoins and cryptocurrency ETFs. Public information remains limited at this stage, and there is still no complete policy text, regulatory draft, or clear implementation timeline, so this is better characterized as a “policy discussion” rather than formal implementation. The original wording also noted that advancing stablecoin regulation in Asia is driving XRP usage and supporting growth in the XRPL ecosystem. However, based on currently available public information, there is not enough evidence to directly establish a clear causal relationship between this round of discussion in Japan and XRP or XRPL.
ZachXBT: Humanity private key leak and abnormal surge in H token should be viewed separately
On June 9, according to related disclosures, on-chain investigator ZachXBT posted an update on Humanity’s roughly $31 million security incident, saying that after further analyzing fund flows, he currently tends to believe the project team was not involved in an “inside job” or a self-staged attack. According to him, the official explanation about the private key leak was broadly accurate, but before the token unlock, the price of H had been artificially pushed higher, and the hacker later took advantage of that market environment; therefore, the private key leak and the earlier abnormal price pumping should be regarded as two separate and independent events. This reframing has shifted the market’s understanding of the nature of the incident. Earlier discussion around Humanity had focused on whether the team directly participated in the attack or used the security incident to cover up internal operations. ZachXBT’s latest remarks shift the focus from “whether it was self-theft” to “whether there were pre-unlock market structure issues.” He also questioned whether the team may have.
Morning Report | OpenAI has submitted an S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. SEC; Morpho completes $175 million financing
Morning Report | BitMine increased its holdings by 126,971 ETH last week; trader Eugene announced his exit from the crypto market
Wang Chuan: How can one not feel anxious after the neighbor Old Wang made thirty times profit by investing in storage stocks? (Seven) - A quarter-century cycle
CFTC Reportedly Plans New Prediction Market Rules Focused on Manipulation Risk and Public Interest Review
The CFTC is reportedly preparing new prediction market rules focused on manipulation risk, public interest review, and retail trader protections.
Meet the new WEEX trial fund—your gateway to greater profits
WEEX Labs Lands at Dutch Blockchain Week: A Disruptive Crypto × AI Conversation Sets Sail in Amsterdam
SK Hynix Reportedly Plans U.S. ADR Listing as Early as August, With SEC Approval Possible in Late June
SK Hynix may pursue a U.S. ADR listing as early as August, with SEC approval reportedly possible in late June amid strong AI chip supply chain demand.
SpaceX vs Tesla vs xAI: Which Elon Musk Trade Has the Biggest Upside in 2026?
OpenAI Reveals It Has Confidentially Submitted an S-1 to the SEC, Keeping the Door Open for a Future IPO
On June 9, according to an OpenAI announcement, the company recently confidentially submitted a draft S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), beginning the preliminary compliance process for a potential initial public offering. OpenAI said it chose to disclose this proactively because it expected the news might leak; however, the company has not yet set a specific listing timeline, and related arrangements may still take some time.
