January 16, 2026
Dev heroes, crypto zeros?
Crypto grifters are recruiting open-source AI developers
Fans cry 'grift' as star coders hype coins that don’t power their projects
TLDR: Big-name devs promoted $GAS and $RALPH coins that don’t add features to their AI tools but do tip them via a “Bags” setup. Commenters call it gambling in a lab coat, debate if anyone can cash out, nitpick Solana vs tokens, and urge direct donations instead.
Two respected coders, Steve Yegge (Gas Town) and Geoff Huntley (the Ralph Wiggum loop), are suddenly shouting out $GAS and $RALPH — meme coins built on Solana via a tool called Bags. The twist: the coins don’t power the software at all; they just tip the devs and pump the token. Commenters smelled a celebrity airdrop play: create a coin, route fees to a famous account, then dangle “free earnings” until the celeb posts. The top vibe? “This is gambling dressed up as supporting open source.” Others admit a messy silver lining: at least some crypto casino cash is drifting to coders. But the mood skews skeptical, even queasy.
Drama exploded fast. One pedant brigade corrected the basics: “Solana isn’t a cryptocurrency; it’s a network — these are just random tokens.” Skeptics asked the brutal question: can anyone actually cash out “hundreds of thousands,” or is it Monopoly money? Pragmatists begged, “Why not just donate directly?” Meanwhile, jokes flew: Ralph memes saying “I’m in danger,” and snark that Gas Town “smells like pump-and-dump.” There’s side-eye at ties to the site formerly known as Twitter, too. Fans want open-source funded; critics see grift theater. The community verdict: proceed with popcorn, not your paycheck. Also, yes, Solana is the network, not the coin.
Key Points
- •Two open-source AI projects, Gas Town and the Ralph Wiggum loop, were launched by Steve Yegge and Geoff Huntley respectively.
- •Separate tokens, $GAS and $RALPH, were created on Solana via the Bags tool, designating social accounts as fee beneficiaries.
- •The coins are technically unrelated to the projects; using Gas Town or Ralph Wiggum loop does not require or benefit from buying the tokens.
- •A trader configured $GAS to route a portion of trading fees to Steve Yegge’s Twitter account and notified him via LinkedIn, citing about $238,000 in earnings.
- •The article characterizes this as a variant of an airdrop/memecoin tactic that leverages celebrity or notable figures to attract buyers.