Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s edtech initiative, Giggle Academy, raised over $1.3 million in public donations in just half a day, largely fueled by a memecoin.
According to BscScan, the donation address for Giggle Academy held more than 1,311 BNB—equivalent to over $1.3 million—after opening for contributions on Sunday.
Much of the funding came through a memecoin called “Giggle,” launched by the Giggle Fund, which channels trading fees from the coin directly to Giggle Academy in BNB.
Giggle Academy confirmed that all donations will go toward community building, creator incentives, ecosystem development, and product promotion. The project’s concept paper outlines a system where teachers can contribute educational content and reward top-performing participants, allowing the next tier of contributors to “rise to the top.”
The Giggle Fund was launched shortly after a user query on X. A user with the handle RUNE asked CZ whether Giggle Academy would accept token donations, referencing Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s 2021 donation of $1 billion in Shiba Inu coins to a COVID-19 relief fund in India.
In response, CZ tweeted that any memecoin donations would be converted or sold for major altcoins, adding, “We appreciate the donations, but please don’t complain about the selling pressure later.”
RUNE later clarified that the “memecoin doesn’t work like that,” explaining that it charges a fee in BNB and sends the token as a donation, meaning “no one is affected.”
BscScan data shows that the Giggle Fund has completed 967 transactions out of nearly 10,000 total donations to Giggle Academy since its launch.
In the past 24 hours, the fund’s transaction count surged over 470%, according to DEX Screener, with a trading volume of $2.8 million. The fund describes itself as a “donation coin that directly donates to Giggle Academy.”
Giggle Academy aims to provide free education for K-12 students, focusing on non-traditional subjects like negotiation, finance, blockchain, and AI, particularly for children in underprivileged or developing regions.
The project clarifies that it is not meant to replace existing education systems. It will also cover traditional subjects such as math, reading, writing, and science, while deliberately avoiding history and religion to prevent contentious debates on a global platform.
CZ has previously set an ambitious target of educating 100 million to 1 billion children over the coming years.
