In three hours, raised 20 million dollars for daughter's medical expenses, "Web3 Water Drop Fundraising" MIRA's Christmas miracle

Author: A Ray's New World, BlockBeats

"If you could press a button to instantly end your life in exchange for curing a child's brain tumor, every parent would hesitate to be the first to press the button. But the cruelest part is that such a button does not exist," 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 any misstep could lead to Mira suffering from illness and losing her ability to care for herself.

Chen Siqi has been actively collaborating with Dr. Todd Hankinson from the University of Colorado, the only institution researching this brain tumor, to secure biweekly intravenous injection trials 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 substantial funding. Therefore, this Christmas, Chen Siqi began his web3 "Dew Drop Fundraising" journey.

Chen Siqi started posting on Twitter, calling on netizens to donate to Hankinson's lab. A campaign to save girl Mira unfolded on Twitter, with former Uber CEO Ronak, hellopatient co-founder Alex, and many other prominent figures rallying for Mira.

It seems that heaven heard Chen Siqi's every helpless cry in the corner and saw every tear 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 Dew Drop Fundraising Reappears

However, this story, which seems to be a reappearance of a WeChat circle fundraising on Twitter, is just beginning. In addition to fundraising through Web2 methods, Chen Siqi did not forget to attach his Solana and BTC addresses.

Mira's story gaining traction in the crypto space is 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 through this tough time. The other is the Dev who created tokens on pump.fun, Waddles. After seeing Mira's story, Waddles donated 50% of the $MIRA tokens to this father who is striving to treat his daughter. 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 three hours.

So who is Chen Siqi, and why did Shaw pay attention to him? 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 background that so many "big shots" are willing to support him.

At the same time, Bio Protocol has also taken notice of this scientific donation event, believing 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 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 Dad on a Tightrope: How Should Donations Be Handled?

Despite having raised a substantial amount of funds, how to properly handle this donation is also a question. Clearly, Chen Siqi is also feeling lost. If the funds are handled well, they could not only help 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 a situation similar to Judge Wang Hao's remark, "If you didn't touch it, why should you help?" People may no longer be willing to support similar cases.

Thus, Chen Siqi's approach is very cautious. Four hours ago, he announced his intention to sell 10% of the supply at some point today to donate to Hankinson's lab, while retaining the remaining portion, which would account for 5% of the total supply. He will not sell any more tokens unless he announces it 24 hours in advance. Additionally, Chen Siqi has started to seek opinions from netizens on Twitter about whether to sell his portion, while announcing that all new incoming funds will be donated to Hankinson's 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 every fund can be monitored under public scrutiny. Perhaps on-chain donations will be a glimmer of hope on the eve of the large-scale application of Web3.