Author: A Ray's New World, BlockBeats
'If you could press a button to cure your child's brain tumor at the cost of ending your own life, every parent would unhesitatingly strive to be the first to press that button. But the cruel reality is that no such button exists,' wrote Mira's father Chen Siqi on Twitter. The calm yet love-filled 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 any carelessness could cause Mira to suffer from illness and be unable to take care of herself because of this brain tumor.
Chen Siqi has been actively collaborating with Dr. Todd Hankinson from the University of Colorado, the only one in the world researching this brain tumor, to secure biweekly intravenous injection trials for his daughter to inhibit the tumor's growth. However, there is currently no complete cure for this type of tumor, and extensive funding is needed to research this rare disease. Therefore, this Christmas, Chen Siqi began his web3 'Water Droplet Fundraising' journey.
Chen Siqi began posting on Twitter, calling on netizens to donate 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 names supporting Mira.
The sky seems to have heard Chen Siqi's desperate cries at the corner of the wall every time, and has seen the tears he secretly wiped away behind the door each time. Within just 3 hours after Chen Siqi's post, $75,000 was quickly raised through gofound.me. As of now, Chen Siqi has raised $224,000, with 25% left to reach his goal of $300,000.
Web3 Water Droplet Fundraising Reappears
However, this seemingly like a WeChat circle water droplet fundraising story reappearing on Twitter is just beginning. In addition to fundraising through Web2, Chen Siqi has also not forgotten to attach his Solana and BTC addresses.
Mira's story was able to break into the crypto sphere thanks to the efforts of two men.
One 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 get through the difficulties. The other is Waddles, the Dev who created the token at pump.fun. Upon seeing Mira's story, Waddles donated 50% of his $MIRA tokens to this father who is struggling to pay for his daughter's treatment. Where there is attention, there is a flow of funds. With the support of Shaw, Ronak, and other Web3 and Web2 celebrities, MIRA achieved nearly a 60-fold increase in less than 3 hours.
So who is Chen Siqi, and why has he attracted Shaw's attention? Chen Siqi is the founder and CEO of Runway, which is a startup funded by a16z. Moreover, Chen Siqi has also served as the executive 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 names' are standing by him.
At the same time, Bio Protocol has also paid attention to this scientific donation event and believes that decentralized scientific funding will become a major use case for crypto in the next cycle. In real life, rare disease research is seldom funded, and the pump.fun and MIRA events have pushed the Desci narrative to new heights.
Under 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 the donations be handled?
Despite having a large amount of funding, how to properly handle this donation is also a problem. Clearly, Chen Siqi has fallen into confusion. If the funds are handled well, it can not only raise money for his daughter but also further broaden the development direction of Desci. If not handled properly, it will not only provoke public anger but also likely echo the words of Judge Wang Hao, 'If you didn’t touch it, why do you need to help?', and people will no longer be willing to pay for similar cases.
Thus, Chen Siqi's handling is very cautious. Four hours ago, he announced plans to sell 10% of the supply today to donate to the Hankinson Lab, while keeping the remaining portion, which accounts for 5% of the total supply. Unless announced 24 hours in advance, he will not sell any more tokens. Additionally, Chen Siqi began soliciting opinions on Twitter regarding whether to sell his portion, while announcing that all new incoming funds would be donated to the Hankinson Lab for tumor research.
Despite mixed reviews of Chen Siqi and Mira's story on Twitter, blockchain has proven the feasibility of on-chain donations and fundraising with its transparency and wide participation, ensuring that the flow of each fund can be guaranteed under public scrutiny. Perhaps on-chain donations could be a glimmer of hope on the eve of Web3's widespread application.
