After Siqi Chen shared a post about his daughter’s brain tumor diagnosis, the cryptocurrency community rallied together to create a meme coin called MIRA to support research funding. The token, based on the Solana network, surged over 700% shortly after its launch, reaching a market capitalization of $72 million.
The coin, named after Chen’s four-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor known as craniopharyngioma, was launched on pump.fun. Within a short time, it formed a ‘god-candle,’ a term used to describe a significant price increase within a brief period. As of this report, the MIRA token, with a trading volume of $16.4 million, is priced at $0.0768.
Siqi Chen, co-founder and CEO of Runway, initially shared his daughter’s situation on social media, seeking donations to fund research led by Dr. Todd Hankinson, a professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics. Hankinson’s lab is the only one globally focusing on this specific tumor.
In response to Chen’s call for help, the crypto community quickly mobilized, and a meme coin was established. Unexpectedly, Chen received half of the coin’s total supply, valued at approximately $400,000. Though overwhelmed, Chen decided against selling the tokens outright to avoid devaluing the investments of trusting supporters. Outlining his plan, Chen announced he would sell 10% of the supply, allocating 5% to the research and holding the remaining percentage under strict conditions, promising no further sales without prior notice.
Chen clarified that proceeds from the token would solely support research at Hankinson Lab, emphasizing that his family would not profit financially from the initiative. He highlighted this effort as a valid use case for cryptocurrency, specifically in funding rare disease research.
