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Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s new education platform, Giggle Academy, secured more than $1.3 million in funding within half a day, with much of the total coming through a memecoin-linked initiative. The Giggle Academy donation address on BscScan showed a balance of over 1,311 BNB, worth about $1.3 million, just hours after opening for contributions on Sunday.
The bulk of donations came from a token called “Giggle,” launched by the Giggle Fund. Rather than sending tokens directly, the fund diverts trading fees into Binance Coin (BNB) and transfers the proceeds to Giggle Academy. The approach has already generated thousands of transactions, highlighting the unusual role memecoins are playing in grassroots funding campaigns.
Giggle Academy stated that donations would go toward community-building, creator incentives, ecosystem development, and product promotion. Its concept paper envisions teachers uploading educational material, with rewards distributed to top-performing contributions.
The concept of a Giggle Academy donation funded through a token emerged from a social media exchange. On X, a user under the handle RUNE asked Zhao if the project would accept tokens as donations, referencing Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s 2021 donation of $1 billion in Shiba Inu to India’s COVID-19 relief.
Zhao initially responded that memecoin-related donations would likely be converted into major assets, noting:
“We appreciate the donations, but please don’t complain about the selling pressure later.” — Changpeng Zhao, in an X post.
RUNE later clarified that the Giggle token worked differently: “Memecoin doesn’t work like that. It charges a fee in BNB and sends the token as a donation, so no one is affected.”
Since its launch, the Giggle Fund has accounted for 967 out of nearly 10,000 transactions to Giggle Academy, according to BscScan. Trading activity has surged, with DEX Screener reporting a 470% rise in transactions over 24 hours and a $2.8 million trading volume. Its description frames the token as a “donation coin that directly donates to Giggle Academy.”
At the heart of the Giggle Academy donation campaign is a broader mission: delivering free, alternative education to students in Kindergarten through year 12, particularly in developing regions. The platform’s concept paper outlines courses in negotiation, finance, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, while also covering math, reading, writing, and science.
Notably, the academy excludes history and religion, citing “too much potential debate on a global platform.” The stated aim is not to replace traditional schooling but to complement it with practical and digital-age skills.
CZ has previously spoken about ambitions to scale rapidly, with a target of reaching 100 million to 1 billion children in the coming years. “Education should be free and borderless,” he said in an earlier statement about the project.
While the scale of the Giggle Academy donation drive has impressed supporters, some industry observers warn about the risks of relying heavily on memecoin-based funding.
Augustine Fan, head of insights at crypto research firm SignalPlus, noted: “Projects fueled by speculative tokens face the challenge of converting short-term hype into long-term stability.”
Others view the campaign as a test case for new models of community-driven philanthropy in crypto.
Still, questions remain about whether trading fees tied to a volatile memecoin can reliably sustain an education platform aiming to reach millions. For now, the Giggle Academy donation surge demonstrates strong grassroots enthusiasm, but its endurance will depend on execution beyond the fundraising phase.
As Giggle Academy begins deploying funds, attention will turn to how efficiently donations are transformed into actual learning resources. For crypto investors, the project highlights both the opportunities and uncertainties of blockchain-enabled philanthropy.
Whether the Giggle Academy donation model becomes a replicable success story or another case study in memecoin volatility will be closely watched by a market increasingly attuned to real-world applications of digital assets.
