On October 10, Changpeng Zhao revealed that Giggle Academy had received as much as $11 million in donations over the past 20 days. The education initiative aims to offer free basic education for students from Grade 1 through Grade 12 via an English-language app.
“$11,000,000 in hard currency (#BNB) donated to @GiggleAcademy in less than 20 days to spread free education to the world. Power to crypto for good, Power to $GIGGLE,” CZ tweeted.
While many traders celebrated the gesture as a positive sign from the crypto community, others quickly noticed that CZ referenced the $GIGGLE ticker. Despite Giggle Academy’s claim that it has never issued a native token, traders flocked to tokens using the same name.
“CZ, many tokens have used the name GIGGLE. You need to clarify that Giggle Academy has not launched any tokens,” one X user wrote.
“CZ, look what your tweet did to the $GIGGLE chart—I’m literally giggling just watching it, even though I’ve got nothing left to invest (sad but true),” added another.
Screenshots circulated showing multiple copycat tokens using the GIGGLE ticker, many of which spiked after CZ’s donation announcement. On TradingView, the Giggle Fund token surged from $82 to $120.61 within seconds of the tweet, though the price later fell roughly 19% over the next hour. CZ’s mention of $GIGGLE also boosted trading volume for the GIGGLE/WBNB pair, which now sits at $23.5 million.
According to GMGN data, the Giggle Fund token’s market capitalization has surpassed $110 million, having previously peaked at $116 million after a 20-minute surge of 31.44%.
On-chain records indicate that the token was launched on September 22, just one day after Giggle Academy began accepting public donations. However, the project’s official X account has not made any announcements suggesting that a token was launched to fund the initiative.
What is Giggle Academy?
Founded by Changpeng Zhao, Giggle Academy is a non-profit educational platform dedicated to providing free, high-quality learning for children worldwide. The app offers online courses in traditional subjects like math and science, alongside modern topics such as finance, blockchain, AI, and entrepreneurship.
On the one-year anniversary of his release from prison, CZ stated that Giggle Academy has successfully delivered free education to at least 50,000 children.
The project announced on September 21 that it would begin accepting public donations, with the funds aimed at supporting free education through community-building, ecosystem development, promotional campaigns, and other programs.
A screenshot shared by CZ on October 10 shows the Giggle Academy address holding approximately 8,722 BNB on-chain. Based on current market prices, this donation is valued at more than $11.04 million.
