If you could press a button to instantly cure your child's brain tumor at the cost of ending your own life, every parent would rush to be the first to press that button. But the cruelest part is that such a button does not exist at all, wrote Mira's father, Chen Siqi, on Twitter. His calm yet loving words reveal his helplessness and confusion.
The story behind the death button
On September 23 of 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 area of the brain, and a slight mistake could lead to serious illness and loss of self-care ability for Mira.
Chen Siqi has been actively collaborating with Dr. Todd Hankinson from the University of Colorado, the only one in the world studying this brain tumor, securing a bi-weekly intravenous injection trial for his daughter to suppress tumor growth. However, there is currently no complete cure for this type of tumor, and researching this rare disease requires substantial financial support. Thus, this Christmas, Chen Siqi began his web3 'Ding Drop Fundraising' journey.
Chen Siqi started posting on Twitter, calling for donations to the Hankinson Lab. A campaign to save the girl Mira unfolded on Twitter, with former Uber CEO Ronak, HelloPatient co-founder Alex, and many other big shots rallying for Mira.
It seems that heaven heard Chen Siqi's helpless shouts from the corner each time and saw the tears he secretly wiped away behind the door. Within just three hours of Chen Siqi's post, $75,000 was quickly raised through gofound.me. As of now, Chen Siqi has raised $224,000, still 25% away from his $300,000 goal.
Web3 Ding Drop Fundraising reappears
However, this story that seems to be a social circle fundraising campaign reappearing on Twitter is just beginning. In addition to fundraising through Web2, Chen Siqi has not forgotten to attach his Solana and BTC addresses.
Mira's story was able to break into the crypto scene thanks to the efforts of two men.
One is Shaw, who is still preaching in China. After learning about Mira's plight, Shaw donated $100,000 in $degenai tokens to Chen Siqi's wallet to help their family through tough times. The other is Waddles, the Dev who created the token on pump.fun. After seeing Mira's story, Waddles donated 50% of the $MIRA tokens to this father who is working hard to treat his daughter. Where there is attention, there is a flow of funds. With the support of figures like Shaw and Ronak from Web3 and Web2, MIRA achieved nearly a 60-fold increase in less than three hours.
So who is Chen Siqi, and why does he attract Shaw's attention? Chen Siqi is the founder and CEO of Runway, a startup funded by a16z. He also served as the CEO of SandVR (a16z) and the product president of Postmates (later acquired by Uber). It is precisely because of his career experiences that so many 'big shots' are supporting him.
Meanwhile, Bio Protocol has also taken note of this scientific donation event and believes that decentralized scientific funding will become a major use case in the next crypto cycle. In real life, research on rare diseases rarely receives funding, while the pump.fun and MIRA events have further pushed the Desci narrative to a climax.
With the interaction between Bio Protocol and Shaw, MIRA has become a representative meme of the Desci concept.
Chen's father, walking on a tightrope: How should donations be handled?
Despite having a large amount of funding, how to properly handle this donation is also a problem. Clearly, Chen Siqi is also feeling lost. If the funds are handled well, they can not only raise money for his daughter but also further broaden the development direction of Desci. If mishandled, it could not only provoke public outrage but also lead to situations like Judge Wang Hao's remark, 'Why should you help when you didn't cause the problem?' People may no longer be willing to support similar cases.
Therefore, Chen Siqi's handling of the situation is very cautious. Four hours ago, Chen Siqi announced his intention to sell 10% of the supply at some point today to donate to the Hankinson Lab, keeping the remaining part, which accounts for 5% of the total supply. He will not sell any more tokens unless announced 24 hours in advance. Additionally, regarding fund management, Chen Siqi began seeking opinions on Twitter about whether to sell his portion, while also announcing that all new incoming funds would be donated to the Hankinson Lab for tumor research.
Although Chen Siqi and Mira's story has received mixed reviews on Twitter, the blockchain has proven the feasibility of on-chain donations and fundraising with its transparency and broad participation, ensuring that the flow of each fund can be monitored publicly. Perhaps on-chain donations will be a glimmer of hope on the eve of large-scale applications in Web3.
