A father's heartfelt effort to raise funds for his daughter's rare brain tumor turned a viral meme coin, MIRA, into a multi-million dollar initiative. The token, launched on the Pump.Fun platform, reached a market capitalization of $80 million before its value dropped. However, the initiative successfully raised over $1 million for crucial research, as reported by CoinDesk.
Siki Chen, the founder of Runaway, shared on X that his daughter Mira was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in September. Highlighting the lack of funding and research for this condition, he launched a campaign on GoFundMe with the goal of raising $300,000 to support research at the Genkinson Lab at the University of Colorado.
In response to requests for cryptocurrency donations, Chen shared his Ethereum wallet address, and later added wallets for Bitcoin and Solana to provide more donation options.
The campaign took an unexpected turn when an anonymous user on Pump.Fun — a service enabling the creation of tokens for less than $2 — launched the MIRA meme coin featuring Chen and his daughter. The token quickly gained popularity after user @Waddles_eth purchased half of the issuance and transferred it to Chen, who then began promoting it on his page.
The price of the token surged from a fraction of a cent to a peak value of 8 cents on Thursday, with its market capitalization reaching $80 million. Trading volume exceeded $85 million, and the number of transactions surpassed 130,000, making MIRA the most popular low-cap token of the day.
During the rapid price increase, Chen announced he would liquidate $1,000 worth of MIRA tokens every 10 minutes for tumor research funding, ensuring transparency in the process.
“We initially planned to raise $200,000, but we will now get at least $1 million for rare disease research,” Chen wrote on X. Although the token's price later dropped by 80%, the initiative gained widespread support.
The cryptocurrency community praised this initiative as a prime example of how digital assets can contribute positively. “I always thought meme coins were silly and meaningless… but this is incredible,” noted user @JaEsf. Another user, @mbaril010, added: “This is exactly what cryptocurrency is for! To simplify asset movement and support real causes.”
@Waddles_eth, who transferred half of the token's issuance to Chen, expressed satisfaction with the outcome: “After seeing Mira's story and her condition, I decided to involve the Solana community in this good cause. I’m glad everything worked out, and I hope these funds help find a cure for Mira and others with a similar diagnosis.”
While meme coins are often viewed as speculative and frivolous, the MIRA initiative demonstrates that such tokens can achieve real, positive results.
This success story may pave the way for similar initiatives where community strength, virality, and blockchain technology unite to address real-world problems.
As Chen summarized: “I’ve been online for 30 years and seen a lot of crazy things, but this day is the wildest in my life.”