Author: Pzai, Foresight News
In the world of cryptocurrencies, MEME coins are often seen as symbols of speculation and entertainment, but the emergence of MIRA seems to have broken this stereotypical impression. It is not just a token, but also carries the deep affection and hope of a father who is raising research funds for his daughter Mira, who has a rare brain tumor. When the consensus of encryption and the expectations of a family meet, what kind of sparks will be created?
Community-initiated "Fundraising"
On December 25, Siqi Chen, CEO and CFO of the startup finance platform Runway, posted that his 4-year-old daughter Mira had been diagnosed with a rare craniopharyngioma, which is benign but poses a huge risk as the tumor is located in a critical area of her brain. In desperation, he sought hope and collaborated with the Hankinson Lab at the University of Colorado to try to find a treatment through research.
After the successful surgery, Mr. Chen turned his attention outward, encouraging kind-hearted people to contribute to the research of childhood brain tumors. However, the high cost of rare disease research has become the biggest obstacle on this journey. At this time, an anonymous user Waddles created the MIRA token on the Solana chain and gifted 50% of the tokens to Siqi Chen, hoping to raise funds for Mira's research through the power of the crypto community. Waddles wrote on X: "When I saw the story about Mira and her illness, I thought it would be nice to buy and send you tokens, hoping the Solana community would support a charity effort this Christmas."
Under the power of the community and the continuous influx of attention, the MIRA token soared to a market value of $80 million and a trading volume of over $100 million in just one day. At the peak, Chen's holdings alone were worth over $14 million.
Chen has promised to sell $1,000 worth of MIRA tokens every 10 minutes and donate 100% of the funds raised to the lab's rare cancer research work. He also initiated a community vote to decide whether to continue selling the tokens, and ultimately 65.7% of the participants supported his plan.
He said, "I've been online for 30 years and seen some things, but this is the craziest day of my life so far." But after the MEME frenzy, Chen called on those who profited to donate part of their profits, and emphasized that the purpose of fundraising was to help rare disease patients, not speculation, which also sparked a profound discussion about whether "emotionalized MEME" is easily exploited by speculators.
For rare disease donations, the funds raised far exceeded expectations. As of December 30, MIRA has raised over $1 million for the lab, far exceeding the initial $200,000 target.
The original GoFundMe page for this project is also close to its $300,000 goal, and cryptocurrency donations have further supported this goal. The success of MIRA is also inseparable from the active participation of the Solana community. Well-known Web3 figures like Andreessen Horowitz founder Shaw have also donated 100,000 DegenAI tokens to support Mira's treatment and related research, and Bio Protocol also believes that DeSci funding will become a major use case for cryptocurrencies in the next cycle.
In real life, rare disease research rarely receives funding, but use cases like BIO and Pump.science are providing a funding base for DeSci, and MIRA has just proven the necessity at this critical juncture.
Conclusion
The rapid rise of MIRA not only demonstrates the unique advantages of cryptocurrencies in the field of charity - transparency, speed and global participation, but also raises profound discussions about the interweaving of goodwill and speculation. Although the market value of MIRA has experienced violent fluctuations in a short period of time, Siqi Chen has always adhered to the original purpose of fundraising, calling on those who have profited to donate part of their profits, and using all the proceeds for rare disease research.
This community-driven charitable miracle not only brings hope to Mira, but also provides valuable experience and inspiration for the future development of crypto charity. The story of MIRA tells us that when technology and humanity meet, cryptocurrencies can go beyond speculation and entertainment, and become a force to change the world. It lets us see that goodwill and innovation can go hand in hand, igniting the light of hope for those who need help the most.
MIRA is not only a MEME coin, but also a community-driven charitable miracle. It uses the power of cryptocurrencies to bring hope to rare disease research, while also sparking profound reflections on the future development of crypto charity. Perhaps the real miracle is that when we choose goodwill in different ways, this world will truly become better.
