Advancing medical care for rare diseases requires focus, funding and a human touch.
A heartwarming and unexpected story captured the spirit of the holiday season. What started as a father’s appeal to fund medical research for the diagnosis of his young daughter’s rare brain tumor quickly turned into a viral phenomenon, fueled by the creation of a memecoin on the blockchain Solana. Within hours, millions of dollars were raised – not through traditional donations, but through a speculative cryptocurrency market that rallied to the cause.
A Father’s Christmas Wish
Siqi Chen, a tech investor and father, posted a heartfelt message on Christmas Eve. Her 5-year-old daughter, Mira, had been diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma, and Chen sought funding for research led by Dr. Todd Hankinson of the University of Colorado. He set up a GoFundMewhich raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few days. But the real story unfolded on Christmas Day when a community of memecoiners mobilized in an unprecedented way.
A memecoin called $MIRA was started by an anonymous individual to support the cause, and that person donated 40% of the supply to Chen. The value of the token soared as traders jumped on it. By Thursday morning, Chen had liquidated enough tokens to donate more than $1 million to Hankinson’s lab. The lab, which focuses on this rare disease that affects fewer than two in a million people each year, has received the largest donation ever.
In a stunning series of posts, Chen shows screenshots of his $MIRA holdings growing from a few thousand dollars to a few million in a matter of hours. To enjoy this incredible story, start with this post and just keep scrolling.
The final screenshot shows a balance of almost $19 million.
Of course, the tokens couldn’t be converted to cash all at once, as selling a large portion of the circulating supply would cause their price to plummet. Chen therefore took precautions to gradually sell off his holdings, thereby avoiding rapid devaluation and emphasizing his commitment to using the funds for research.
Dr Hankinson weighed with a video expressing gratitude for everything that happened.
Turn gratitude into action
Chen’s last update underlines its commitment to transparency and its deep gratitude for the unexpected success of $MIRA. Some critics began to lament the windfall enjoyed by some early traders. Chen touted their winnings as a crucial part of the process, noting that their participation helped turn an ambitious fundraising goal of $200,000 into more than $1 million for rare disease research. His goal, he emphasized, is solely to provide maximum funding to the Hankinson laboratory to advance treatments for the rare brain tumor affecting his daughter.
Because the Internet is the Internet, conspiracy theories have flourished, suggesting that Chen orchestrated the token’s launch and is profiting financially from it. Chen clarified his limited engagement with crypto ahead of this event. His professional life revolves around running Tracka non-crypto financial software startup, and meeting his daughter’s medical needs. The idea that he could have directed the project, he said, was “extremely incredible.”
Looking ahead, Chen laid out a simple plan to liquidate $MIRA tokens in a predictable and transparent manner. It will sell the coin worth $1,000 every ten minutes, ensuring that profits continue to flow steadily to the lab while minimizing market disruption.
For Chen, the result is already a triumph: an outpouring of generosity has had a tangible impact in the fight against rare diseases. Memecoins are rightly considered speculative gadgets, because they usually are. As the value of $MIRA rose and fell, some traders profited while others lost money. However, even for this bitcoin maximalist, it’s hard not to call this episode of Christmas magic what it is: a crypto use case that did a lot of good.
