Falling from $4 million to $160,000: What is behind the 99% decline of HAPPY-SCI Meme Coin

A Meme coin centered around a charity project experienced a rollercoaster ride in a short period. From a market cap close to $4 million to dropping to $160,000 after an official clarification, the story of HAPPY-SCI is not only a loss for investors but also a stark warning to the entire Meme coin market.

Timeline of Events: From Hot Hype to Collapse

Project Background

Happy-Sci is a purely charitable project initiated by Siyuan, a member of YZi Labs, at the end of 2024. Its goal is to provide unconditional small donations (usually around 200 USDT per person) via BNB Chain to PhD students and young researchers worldwide to alleviate research pressure. This was originally a warm-hearted charitable act.

The Birth and Speculation of Meme Coins

The problem arose at the community level. Based on the Happy-Sci project, community members issued an unofficial Meme token, HAPPY-SCI, with a 3% transaction tax, claiming all proceeds would be donated to the original charity address. This setup sparked market imagination—some users compared it to a “second GIGGLE” (another successful charitable Meme coin), leading to rapid hype.

As a result, the market cap soared to nearly $4 million, with the donation address receiving about $420,000 worth of BNB.

Official Clarification and Token Burn

A key turning point occurred when Siyuan publicly reiterated: Happy-Sci is a non-public fundraising charity project that does not issue tokens. The implication was that this Meme coin was unofficial and not endorsed by the official team. More directly, Siyuan burned approximately $420,000 worth of BNB.

This move shattered investor expectations. Without official backing, HAPPY-SCI Meme coin’s market cap quickly dropped to $160,000.

What Does This Event Reflect?

The Fragility of Meme Coins

The biggest lesson from this event is: the value of Meme coins is entirely based on consensus and expectations. When official endorsement disappears, consensus collapses. The 99% drop of HAPPY-SCI was not due to project issues but because it lacked official support from the start—something the market once believed it had.

Discrepancy Between Official and Community

Happy-Sci’s original intention was good, but the official team failed to manage market expectations timely. When the community started issuing Meme coins, the official should have clarified their stance earlier rather than waiting until the market cap reached $4 million. This delay made innocent investors the bagholders.

Why Did the Official Burn the Donations?

This detail is worth noting. Siyuan burned $420,000 worth of BNB, indicating he believed there was an issue with the source of these funds—they came from transaction taxes of an unofficial Meme coin, which was pumped based on false expectations (lack of official endorsement). Burning is a responsible act, but it also means these funds ultimately were not used for the original charitable purpose.

Lessons for Investors

• Official endorsement is crucial: Without official support, a Meme coin is just a house of cards.
• Community consensus ≠ project consensus: Community hype does not equal project team approval.
• Faster projects are riskier: Rapid rise from low levels to $4 million market cap often hides risks.
• Clarification is more important than silence: If projects don’t clarify promptly, the market will spin its own stories.

Summary

The HAPPY-SCI story reminds us that the Meme coin market is full of expectation games. When expectations are unmet, everything can collapse instantly. This is not a problem with the Happy-Sci project itself but a fundamental issue with Meme coins lacking solid fundamentals.

For investors, chasing Meme coins requires extreme caution. It’s not just about project hype but also about the official stance. If a project’s official team does not explicitly support a Meme coin, the risk is extremely high. The market cap can evaporate from $4 million to $160,000 in an instant—that’s the price paid.