Behind the 60-fold increase in three hours, the journey of MIRA's 'Web3 Waterdrop Fund'

“If you could press a button to immediately end your own life in exchange for curing a child’s brain tumor, every parent would strive to be the first to press the button without hesitation. But the cruelest part is that such a button simply does not exist,” wrote Mira’s father, Chen Siqi, on Twitter. His calm and affectionate words reveal his helplessness and confusion.

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. A little carelessness could lead Mira to suffer from the disease and be unable to take care of herself.

Chen Siqi has been collaborating actively with Dr. Todd Hankinson, the only researcher in the world studying this brain tumor at the University of Colorado, to secure bi-weekly intravenous injection trials for her daughter to suppress the tumor’s growth. However, there is currently no complete cure for this type of tumor, and extensive funding is needed for research into this rare disease. So, this Christmas, Chen Siqi began her web3 ‘crowdfunding’ journey.

Chen Siqi started posting on Twitter, calling on netizens to donate to the Hansen Laboratory. A movement to save the girl Mira unfolded on Twitter, with former Uber CEO Ronak, hellopatient co-founder Alex, and other big shots all standing up for Mira.

It seems that the heavens have heard every helpless cry from Chen Siqi in the corner, and seen every tear he secretly wiped away behind the door. Just 3 hours after Chen Siqi made a post, he quickly raised 75,000 US dollars through gofound.me. As of now, Chen Siqi has raised 224,000 US dollars, 25% away from his goal of 300,000 US dollars.

Web3 Droplet Fundraiser Resurfaces

However, such a seemingly story of a friend circle water drop raising money reappeared on Twitter has just begun. In addition to raising funds through the Web2 method, Chen Siqi also did not forget to include her Solana and BTC addresses.

Mira’s story of breaking through in the encryption world is inseparable from the efforts of two men.

One is Shaw, who is still preaching in China. After learning about Mira’s experience, Shaw donated 100,000 US dollars of $degenai tokens to Chen Siqi’s wallet to help their family through the difficult times. The other is Dev, Waddles, who created tokens on pump.fun. After seeing Mira’s deeds, Waddles donated 50% of the $MIRA tokens to the father who was running around to treat his daughter’s illness. Where there is attention, there is capital flow. With the support of Web3 and Web2 celebrities such as Shaw and Ronak, MIRA achieved nearly 60 times growth 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 company funded by a16z. Chen Siqi has also served as the CEO of SandVR (a16z) and the product president of Postmates (later acquired by Uber). It is because of these professional experiences that she has so many “big shots” standing up for her.

At the same time, Bio Protocol also noticed this scientific donation event and believes that decentralized scientific funding will become a major use case for the next cycle of encryption. In real life, rare disease research rarely receives funding, and the pump.fun and MIRA events have further pushed the Desci narrative to a climax.

Under the interaction of Bio Protocol and Shaw, MIRA has become the representative Meme of the Desci concept.

Dad Chen Walking on Tightrope: How Should Donations Be Handled?

Despite having a large amount of funds, how to handle this donation is also a problem. Obviously, Chen Siqi is also at a loss. If this fund is handled well, it can not only raise funds for her daughter, but also further expand Desci’s development direction. If it is not handled well, it will not only cause public anger, but also may be like Judge Wang Hao’s question, ‘Why did you help if it wasn’t your fault?’ People will no longer pay for similar cases.

So, Chen Siqi’s handling is very cautious. Four hours ago, Chen Siqi announced plans to sell 10% of the supply at some point today to donate to the Hansen Laboratory, while the remaining portion will be retained, accounting for 5% of the total supply. Unless announced 24 hours in advance, he will not sell any more tokens. In terms of fund management, Chen Siqi has also started to solicit opinions from netizens on Twitter about selling part of his position, while announcing that all new funds will be donated to the Hansen Laboratory for tumor research.

Despite the mixed reviews of Chen Siqi and Mira’s story on Twitter, the blockchain has proven the feasibility of on-chain donations and fundraising with its transparency and widespread participation. The flow of each fund can be guaranteed under public scrutiny. Perhaps on-chain donations will be a glimmer of dawn on the eve of the large-scale application of Web3.