Overview of the Scihub Controversy: Supporting Research or a Money Game?

Author: Alex Liu, Foresight News

DeSci + Meme remains popular, what other good angles are there? Do these meme coins really contribute to Science? Some people can't stand it anymore, shouting (constantly hyping desci) "Have you ever donated a penny to sci-hub?"

What is Sci-hub?

According to Wikipedia, Sci-Hub is a shadow library. It uses various methods to bypass publishers' paywalls. In 2011, Kazakh graduate student Alexandra Elbakyan decided to establish Sci-Hub due to the high costs of research papers behind paywalls. Its users are spread all over the world. In February 2021, Sci-Hub's homepage indicated that it stored over 85 million papers.

Sci-Hub and Elbakyan have been sued twice in the United States for copyright infringement. Both times, they lost due to the absence of the defendant. Sci-Hub has received praise from the scientific community, academia, and the publishing industry, as it effectively disseminates knowledge in the scientific community and provides government-funded research results to the public for free. Publishers criticize it for infringing copyright, reducing their income, and endangering the cybersecurity of universities (though publishers may just be exaggerating the threats. Sci-Hub also encourages publishers to tighten their paywalls).

When defending Sci-Hub, Elbakyan questions whether the business practices of publishers are ethical and in accordance with Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She insists that operating Sci-Hub is a moral imperative and that the law should not prevent her. She once stated, "If all Americans obeyed unjust laws, they would still be ruled by a queen today, and slavery would still exist."

Meme Coin Scihub

"Have you ever donated a penny to sci-hub?" Former president of the Peking University Blockchain Association 0xAA thinks this question makes sense, so he donated 0.1 ETH.

However, if it only stopped at donations, there would be no exciting story afterward ------ 0xAA bought 22% of the supply of the meme coin named scihub.

This meme coin called scihub skyrocketed to a market value of 70 million dollars overnight. The 22% tokens held by 0xAA are worth over ten million dollars. Will he donate 20% of the tokens as promised? Does donating 20% of the supply justify this nearly insane hype?

Initially, Sci-hub's founder Elbakyan did not agree with the project.

But later she added an option to accept SOL wallet donations on Sci-hub's webpage.

Afterward, 0xAA stated that he had reached a consensus with Elbakyan and would honor his commitment to donate 20% of the tokens.

Controversy

The incident sparked significant controversy in the Chinese community, mainly divided into two points:

Accusations of Insider Trading

Some accused 0xAA of insider trading, claiming that the 22% is only the number of tokens held in his public wallet, while the actual number of tokens he controls is far higher than this ratio.

Why not donate directly?

Is it really about supporting research or a money game? Some believe that donations should be made directly instead of using meme hype.

0xAA also stated, "I want to make money, the kind where everyone makes money together." He hopes everyone can win, benefiting from the meme coin while supporting Sci-hub's operations.

Supporters' Views

Opponents have their viewpoints, and many in the community support 0xAA's actions, comparing the fundraising through memes to a lottery model.