Siqi Chen, known in the crypto community as the inspiration behind the MIRA token, has issued a public apology after creating and selling a test token called ZERO, which saw unexpected trading activity. Chen has vowed to personally compensate affected wallets for their losses.
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Chen explained that he launched ZERO as an experiment on the Solana-based meme coin platform, pump.fun, explicitly warning traders that the token was worthless. The token’s description made it clear that its value would inevitably drop to zero and cautioned against any investment.
Despite these warnings, traders purchased ZERO, propelling its price upward by 178% since its December 30 launch. A significant purchase of $208,900 worth of ZERO by a whale contributed to the token’s $32 million trading volume by December 31. The token, now embraced by a community with the X handle ZeroCTO, briefly lost 70% of its value before partially recovering with a 15% rebound. ZERO’s market cap currently stands at over $710,000.
Chen’s Response and Apology
Chen admitted he was unprepared for the token’s reception, stating that he launched ZERO out of curiosity. He acknowledged selling 40% of the token’s supply in a panic, earning 444 SOL. He later repurchased and burned the tokens but expressed regret over his actions.
“I didn’t expect everyone to just be able to see it [the description] and buy it—I thought it’s something I would have needed to tweet about,” Chen wrote.
In a separate post, Chen apologized on behalf of the MIRA and Solana communities, pledging to personally restore all losses incurred by ZERO investors. “I will do this out of my personal funds, not the $MIRA wallet,” he stated, adding that he would airdrop funds to affected wallets with the help of the community.
Siqi Chen and the MIRA Token
Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Runway, but he is better known in the crypto world for his involvement in the creation of the MIRA token. Inspired by his four-year-old daughter Mira, who was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, MIRA was launched to fund research into craniopharyngioma.
The MIRA token was created by a trader using the handle @shawmakesmagic and the ai16z community, with 50% of the token supply sent to Chen. Initially hesitant to sell, Chen used 10% of the tokens, directing 5% toward funding research at Hankinson Lab, contributing $49,263.
“Whoever said crypto has no legitimate use cases, you can tell them that funding for rare disease research is a pretty legitimate use case,” Chen remarked.
Market Impact
The controversy surrounding ZERO has had a ripple effect on MIRA’s market performance. According to DEX Screener, MIRA’s value dropped nearly 20% over the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.015 with a market cap of $15 million.
Chen’s promise to rectify the situation and his transparent communication have drawn mixed reactions, highlighting the fine line between innovation and accountability in the fast-evolving crypto space.
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