Meme coin MIRA: When Humanity Is Highlighted in Crypto

This Christmas, the crypto community witnessed a moving story about the humanity and power of the tech community. After Runway founder Siqi Chen posted a call to raise research funds for her daughter's illness, the community responded enthusiastically.

Not to stop there, an anonymous user created the meme coin MIRA and sent Chen half of the total supply. The meme coin quickly gained attention with its capitalization soaring to tens of millions of dollars, opening up new possibilities for the application of blockchain in medical research.

Siqi Chen appeals to raise funds for rare disease

The story began in September 2024, when Siqi Chen shared the news that his 4-year-old daughter, Mira, had been diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a rare form of brain tumor. Although benign, the tumor is located in an extremely dangerous position in the brain, causing many complex complications.

After the operation, Mira's health has made positive progress. During her treatment, many suggested Chen raise funds to support Mira's treatment costs. However, he encouraged people to donate to the Children's Brain Tumor Fund instead of advocating individually.

On Christmas Day, December 25, Chen posted a touching appeal on social media, wishing to raise funds for research into her daughter's rare disease.

He shared details of Mira's condition and current research efforts, and urged people to support Dr. Todd Hankinson's research at Hankinson Lab, where Mira is being treated.

This call quickly received a response, especially from the crypto community. In just a few hours, Chen had raised $75,000 on top of his initial $100,000 goal through GoFundMe. His wife and wife pledged to contribute an additional $1 for every dollar raised over the goal, raising the total amount possible to $300,000.

In particular, a user with the pseudonym “waddles” created MIRA, a meme coin on Solana, to contribute to the fundraising effort and send Siqi Chen half the supply.

Chen expressingX surprised by sharing that the value of the token was now over $400,000, and he didn't know how to handle it because he didn't want to “rug pull” those who supported it.

He decided to sell 10% of the tokens he held, equivalent to 5% of the total supply of MIRA tokens. The token earned him about $49,200, and he pledged to donate all of this money to Hankinson Labat the University of Colorado.

After conducting a public opinion poll on X, Chen announced that he would sell an additional 10% of the tokens he holds. The entire proceeds will also be donated to the research laboratory.

Chen added that he is considering selling a fraction of the tokens held each day, slowly selling off rather than selling them off at a time to avoid causing a sudden drop in price. The community has supported this way of doing so.

DesCI — New Trends in Medical Research

Chen's story and support from the crypto community have reflected an emerging trend in crypto: decentralized science (DesCI).

BIO Protokol, the decentralized biotech company, notes that scientific fundraising will be one of the main applications of crypto in the future.

BIO Protocol works as a network of BioDAOs (Biotechnology Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) with the goal of funding and developing new therapies, particularly in areas such as rare diseases, longevity research, and emerging health issues.

Some typical projects in the field of DesCI include VitaDAO (longevity research) and HairDAO (hair research).

VitaDAO has attracted investment from major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, while HairDAO is the first DAO to file a scientific patent. BIO Protocol's network now includes 8 BioDAOS with a total market capitalization of $200 million last year.