Written by: Ray's New World
"If you could press a button to immediately end your own life in exchange for curing your child's brain tumor, every parent would unhesitatingly try to be the first to press that button. But the cruelest thing is that such a button does not exist," Chen Siqi, Mira's father, 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 area of the brain, and if not handled carefully, Mira could suffer from the brain tumor and become unable to take care of herself.
Chen Siqi has been actively collaborating with Dr. Todd Hankinson, the only researcher of this brain tumor at the University of Colorado, to secure a biweekly intravenous injection trial to suppress the tumor's growth for his daughter. However, there is currently no complete cure for this type of tumor, and research on this rare disease requires a large amount of funding. So this Christmas, Chen Siqi embarked on his web3 "Waterdrop Fundraising" journey.
Chen Siqi began posting on Twitter, calling on netizens to donate to Hankinson's laboratory. A campaign to save the girl Mira unfolded on Twitter, with a number of big shots such as former Uber CEO Ronak and hellopatient co-founder Alex standing up for Mira.
The heavens seem to have heard Chen Siqi's every helpless cry in the corner, and seen the tears he secretly wiped away behind the door. 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, still 25% away from his $300,000 goal.
The Reappearance of Web3 Waterdrop Fundraising
However, this story, which seems to be a reappearance of a friend circle waterdrop fundraising on Twitter, has just begun. In addition to fundraising through Web2, Chen Siqi has not forgotten to include his Solana and BTC addresses.
Mira's story has gone beyond the crypto circle, 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 worth of $degenai tokens to Chen Siqi's wallet to help their family get through the difficult time. The other is Dev, Waddles, who created a token on pump.fun. After seeing Mira's story, Waddles donated 50% of the $MIRA tokens to the father who is running around to treat his daughter.
Where there is attention, there is capital flow. With the endorsement of Web3 and Web2 celebrities such as Shaw and Ronak, MIRA has achieved nearly 60-fold growth in less than 3 hours.
So who is Chen Siqi, and why did he receive Shaw's attention? Chen Siqi is the founder and CEO of Runway, a startup funded by a16z. He has also served as the CEO of SandVR (a16z) and the product president of Postmates (later acquired by Uber). It is precisely because of his professional experience that he has received the support of so many "big shots".
At the same time, Bio Protocol has also noticed 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 rarely receives funding, and the MIRA event has further pushed the Desci narrative to a climax.
With the interaction between Bio Protocol and Shaw, MIRA has become the representative MEME of the Desci concept.
The Tightrope-Walking Father Chen: How Should the Donations Be Handled?
Although there is a large amount of funding, how to properly handle this donation is also a problem. Clearly, Chen Siqi is also at a loss. If this fund is handled well, not only can it raise funds for his daughter, but it can also further expand the development direction of Desci. If not handled properly, it will not only arouse public anger, but it is also very likely that people will no longer buy into similar cases, just like Judge Wang Hao's words "Why should you help if it's not your fault?"
So Chen Siqi's handling is very cautious. Four hours ago, Chen Siqi announced that he plans to sell 10% of the supply at some point today to donate to the Hankinson laboratory, and the remaining portion will be retained, accounting for 5% of the total supply. He will not sell any more tokens unless he announces it 24 hours in advance. Chen Siqi also started soliciting opinions from netizens on Twitter on whether to sell part of his own position, and announced that all new incoming funds will be donated to the Hankinson laboratory for tumor research.
Although Chen Siqi and Mira's story has received mixed reviews on Twitter, blockchain has proven the feasibility of on-chain donations and fundraising with its transparency and wide participation, and the flow of every penny can be guaranteed under public scrutiny. Perhaps on-chain donations will be a glimmer of dawn before the large-scale application of Web3.
