Binance co-founder CZ raises $1.3M for Giggle Academy in crypto donations

Giggle Academy, the free‑education project founded by Binance co‑founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, collected more than $1 million in crypto donations within about 12 hours after opening its on‑chain address on Sunday. Most funds came via a new memecoin, $GIGGLE, which sends BNB fee revenue directly to the academy’s wallet.

By Monday, the donation address held roughly 1,311 BNB (about $1.3 million), according to BscScan. A community account, Giggle Fund, promotes the $GIGGLE token and says it forwards BNB fee revenue to the academy in thousands of transfers. The account also shared a simple method to verify the flows on BscScan by filtering internal transactions from the $GIGGLE contract to the academy wallet.

The push followed a public exchange on X. After a user asked whether Giggle would accept token donations, CZ initially warned that any memecoins sent would be converted or sold into major alts, noting the potential for “selling pressure.” The user RUNE replied that $GIGGLE’s design charges fees in BNB and donates BNB, rather than sending the token itself, so holders aren’t affected. CZ acknowledged the clarification.

Activity around the donation coin accelerated. Giggle Fund accounted for 967 of nearly 10,000 transfers to the academy shortly after launch. On DEX dashboards, the token’s transaction count jumped by ~470% in 24 hours, with roughly $2.8 million in volume, and the project describes itself as a “donation coin that directly donates to GiggleAcademy.”

According to Giggle Academy, funds will be used for community building, creator incentives, ecosystem development, and product promotion. The project said reporting will be 100% on‑chain with regular public updates. CZ added that donations will not be used for salaries or servers, which he intends to pay for personally in the near term.

Crazy that @GiggleAcademy received more than $1m in the first 12 hours,

CZ wrote on X.

He also said about 90% of the early total came via a single memecoin and that the academy did not create a token and does not plan to “in the foreseeable future,” to avoid complicating the platform with tokenomics.

The academy’s concept paper targets free K‑12 education with an emphasis on both foundational subjects (math, reading, writing, science) and practical skills (negotiation, finance, blockchain, AI), especially for students in lower‑income or developing regions. It says the program isn’t meant to replace existing school systems and will avoid history and religion to minimize controversy on a global platform.

As the donation flow grows, Giggle Fund said a live dashboard is coming to make tracking easier. Giggle Academy reiterated that contributions are on‑chain and transparent, with spending aimed at incentivising content and accelerating reach rather than covering operating overhead.