A quick look at the controversy surrounding scihub, is it aiding research or a money game?

Author: Alex Liu, Foresight News

DeSci + Meme's popularity remains unabated. Is there any good perspective? Do these Meme coins really contribute to Science? Some people can't stand it anymore and shout out, 'Have you ever donated a penny to sci-hub?'

What is Sci-hub?

According to Wikipedia, Sci-Hub is a shadow library that uses various methods to bypass paywalls of publishers. In 2011, Kazakh graduate student Alexandra Elbakyan founded Sci-Hub because of the high cost of research papers behind paywalls. Its users are located all over the world. In February 2021, the Sci-Hub homepage displayed that it stored over 85 million research papers.

Sci-Hub and Elbakyan have been accused of copyright infringement twice in the United States. Both times resulted in default judgments due to the absence of the defendants. Sci-Hub has received praise from the scientific, academic, and publishing communities, believing that it effectively disseminates knowledge in the scientific community by providing research results funded by the government to the public for free. Publishers, on the other hand, criticize it for copyright infringement, leading to a decrease in their own income and posing a threat to university network security (although publishers may be exaggerating the threat. Sci-Hub also prompts publishers to tighten paywalls.)

When defending Sci-Hub, Elbakyan would question the ethicality of the publishers' business practices and whether they comply with Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She insists that operating Sci-Hub is a moral order and the law should not prevent her. She once said, 'If all Americans obeyed evil laws, they would still be under the rule of the queen today, and slavery would continue to exist'.

MEME coin scihub

"Have you ever donated to sci-hub?" 0xAA, the former chairman of the Peking University Blockchain Association, thought the question made sense, so he donated 0.1 ETH.

But if it stops at just donations, there won't be any exciting stories afterwards — 0xAA bought 22% of the supply of the Meme coin named after scihub.

The Meme coin called scihub surged to a market cap of $70 million overnight. And 22% of the Token value held by 0xAA reached tens of millions of dollars. Will he donate 20% of the Tokens as promised? Does donating 20% of the supply rationalize this almost crazy speculation?

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

But later she added an option to accept SOL Wallet donations on the Sci-hub website.

Later, 0xAA indicated that Consensus had been reached with Elbakinda and pledged to donate 20% of the Token.

controversy

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

RAT trading accusations

There are accusations that 0xAA is involved in rat trading, with only 22% of the Token amount held in its public wallet, far exceeding the actual control of Token amount.

Why not just donate directly?

Is it really about supporting scientific research or just a money game? Some people think that direct donation should be made instead of using hype to Meme.

0xAA also said, 'I want to make money, the kind that everyone can make together.' Hoping everyone can win together, both profiting from MEME coin and supporting Sci-hub's operation.

Supporters' perspective

Opponents have their own views, and there are also many people in the community who support the actions of 0xAA, comparing it to the pattern of fundraising and donating a portion of the chips using the Meme and lottery.