Father Pledges $1M to Cancer Research After Charity Meme Coin Skyrockets to $80M Market Cap

The father of a young girl battling a rare brain tumor has pledged $1 million to fund research into her condition after an unexpected cryptocurrency windfall.

Siqi Chen, CEO of startup finance platform Runway, announced the donation after the charity meme coin, named after his daughter Mira, soared to an all-time high market capitalization of $80 million.

Chen’s Pledge

The girl’s diagnosis inspired Chen to post a plea on X earlier in the week, asking for donations to support the Hankinson Lab at the University of Colorado, a research facility specializing in rare brain tumors. The post gained widespread attention, prompting a Pump.fun user to create the MIRA token.

The cryptocurrency gained immediate traction, reaching an all-time high market capitalization of $80 million. One notable supporter, an X user named Waddles, purchased and transferred 50% of the MIRA supply to Chen, instantly making his stake in the coin worth millions.

Waddles shared his motivation on X, explaining that he hoped to rally the Solana community to support a meaningful cause during the holiday season. He also expressed his happiness that things had worked out as they did and hoped that the funds would contribute to finding a cure for those with the condition.

In a December 26 update, Chen expressed his gratitude, calling it “the most memorable day on the internet” in his 30 years online. The tech executive then outlined a strategy to liquidate the funds responsibly. He revealed his plans to sell $1,000 worth of MIRA every 10 minutes indefinitely, promising to give 24 hours notice if the schedule changed.

“100% of every penny we’ve made from this, across every kitkat/meme coin, including LP fees, will be going directly to rare disease research,” Chen said.

Despite some traders profiting from the coin without contributing to charity, he emphasized the initiative’s overall positive impact. Initially aiming to raise $200,000, he confirmed they would exceed this goal significantly, ultimately donating at least $1 million to rare disease research.

The Charity Meme Coin

Since the announcement, MIRA has declined in value, stabilizing at a market capitalization of approximately $14 million at the time of writing. Another token, “kitkat,” named after the young girl’s dog, briefly reached a $3 million market cap before falling to around $111,000.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin previously highlighted charity-driven meme coins as a “positive-sum” innovation within the meme coin trend.

In a March blog post, he expressed optimism that such tokens could evolve into meaningful projects, benefiting the crypto ecosystem and society while challenging the perception that these assets are useless or perpetuate harmful stereotypes.