4 ms·

Eh, he stole a bunch of money with a crypto rugpull, can’t really give him the benefit of the doubt anymore.

simonw 6mo ago
"I am giving every cent of that crypto money to charity" - https://twitter.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351 https://twitter.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351
- dminik 6mo ago
  I don't see how that is relevant? If he really did steal that money, it's not his to give. You can't take someone's money and then not only not give it back, but also give it away.
  - GolfPopper 6mo ago
    Sure you can. It just requires more steps, expensive suits, and using terms like "leveraged buyout". He just went about it wrong.
  - skybrian 6mo ago
    It’s more like some cryptocurrency scammers tried to bribe him to promote their coin and he took the money and refused to stay bribed so the coin tanked. As it would have eventually, because it was a pump and dump. Why should the scammers who gave him the money get it back? They knew what they were doing, even if Yegge seemed a bit naive about it.
    - Zafira 6mo ago
      > he took the money and refused to stay bribed so the coin tanked. I don’t think he refuse to stay bribed. I think he did what was asked and they executed a rug pull. He is extraordinarily honest and flippant about it. [0] > And with that disclaimer out of the way, I must reiterate my sincere regrets to the CT/BAGS crowd, who so generously funded me to the tune of just shy of $300k last week on bags.fm. That money was hard to duck, and the funds are deeply appreciated. They will help Gas Town be a big success this year. But Gas Town itself needs my full attention; between that and Beads it’s a wonder I get anything done at all. > So I had to step back from the community. I do find it amazing how they band together, dissenting voices rolling around like a big Katamari Damacy ball, and yet they somehow collectively find the discipline to act like financial analysts for institutional investors, weighing developer dossiers, product business cases, and doing critiques like a collective of professionals. All in crypto-bro speak. But it’s the same due diligence. > But the CT community, like any highly engaged stakeholders, were going to be asking for a lot of my time. There are always strings attached. [0] https://steve-yegge.medium.com/steveys-birthday-blog-34f437139cb5 https://steve-yegge.medium.com/steveys-birthday-blog-34f4371...
  - Quarrelsome 6mo ago
    from my admittedly brief research into it, $GAS was sending him transaction fees, as it desired the association. So it wasn't him selling a tangible number of coins to a particular person. So I figure to pay it back, he'd have to trace down the owners of every tx and pay them back the tx fee. Perhaps that's easy, perhaps its non-trivial. According to the tweet[0] he made yesterday, in order to donate the combined funds to charity he has to submit 230 separate transactions on his phone. [0] https://x.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351 https://x.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351
    - coldtea 6mo ago
      Poor him. He is so inconvenienced in this whole process of returning money that's not his
      - Quarrelsome 6mo ago
        Maybe he's a cunt, but I'd rather wait until he responds before burning his house down.
  - throw-93 6mo ago
    Cult 101: Building a massive reality distortion field as a kind of team sport always means forgiving any/all crimes from thought-leaders. Bonus points if you make the crimes look like a virtue
- RIMR 6mo ago
  Donating ill-gotten gains does not legitimize them. This isn't a confusing concept... Also, it's cryptocurrency. There is literally no burden to prove that this money was donated, or what "charity" even means in this context.
- overgard 6mo ago
  I don't really see how that makes it ok. I stole your wallet, but I gave the cash to a homeless person!
- coldtea 6mo ago
  If stolen via a crypto rugpull, it wasn't his to give to begin with.
- georgemcbay 6mo ago
  The way he presents this situation as being foisted upon him against his will in that tweet comes across very different than his original disclosure where he made it sound like a positive windfall. I'm not accusing him of doing anything wrong as he didn't originate the coin, but his original disclosure messaging on the situation was pretty horrible which is why it harmed his reputation.
- Zafira 6mo ago
  This is a sincerely dishonest take to try and avoid responsibility for participating in something deeply unethical and scammy. If this were about evidence in a criminal trial, I would start opining about a poisoned tree. The sad thing is that it often works. Just look at how people view Andrew Carnegie now. After his reputation was sullied by his company’s behavior in the Homestead Strike, his philanthropy was done, in-part, to try and restore his reputation.
- toraway 6mo ago
  > But for God's sake, don't accuse me of pumping it. They paid him to use his product's brand name on an obvious crypto rug pull, he agreed, promoted it on his blog, then people lost money. His "apology" would be more effective without including all the whining about accurately describing the sequence of events he voluntarily participated it for personal gain.
Leynos 6mo ago
How does this work? Someone names a coin after his project, pays him commission for every transaction so he will be incentivised to give it positive coverage on his blog, then sells their stake once the value inflates leaving bagholders with worthless coinage and Yegge with his commission? Edit: Apparently so: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/01/22/steve-yegges-gas-town-vibe-coding-goes-crypto-scam/ https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/01/22/steve-yegges-gas-town-vib...
foltik 6mo ago
Oh yikes, I had no idea it was that bad... https://steve-yegge.medium.com/bags-and-the-creator-economy-249b924a621a https://steve-yegge.medium.com/bags-and-the-creator-economy-...
QuercusMax 6mo ago
Anyone who invests in a new cryptocoin in 2026 has to know that it's almost certainly a scam. It's just straight up gambling.
glerk 6mo ago
Not to get pedantic, but rugpulling is still not strictly speaking “stealing”, because everyone is playing according to the protocol’s rules. Someone controlling a large share of pool tokens can decide to liquidate them and extract the other asset in the pair. Market participants are aware of this risk and who is controlling what share of the tokens at any moment. This is not to excuse the scummy behavior. I didn’t know Steve Yegge went this low just to make a quick buck, and I lost almost all respect for him.

"I am giving every cent of that crypto money to charity" - https://twitter.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351 https://twitter.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351

dminik 6mo ago
I don't see how that is relevant? If he really did steal that money, it's not his to give. You can't take someone's money and then not only not give it back, but also give it away.
- GolfPopper 6mo ago
  Sure you can. It just requires more steps, expensive suits, and using terms like "leveraged buyout". He just went about it wrong.
- skybrian 6mo ago
  It’s more like some cryptocurrency scammers tried to bribe him to promote their coin and he took the money and refused to stay bribed so the coin tanked. As it would have eventually, because it was a pump and dump. Why should the scammers who gave him the money get it back? They knew what they were doing, even if Yegge seemed a bit naive about it.
  - Zafira 6mo ago
    > he took the money and refused to stay bribed so the coin tanked. I don’t think he refuse to stay bribed. I think he did what was asked and they executed a rug pull. He is extraordinarily honest and flippant about it. [0] > And with that disclaimer out of the way, I must reiterate my sincere regrets to the CT/BAGS crowd, who so generously funded me to the tune of just shy of $300k last week on bags.fm. That money was hard to duck, and the funds are deeply appreciated. They will help Gas Town be a big success this year. But Gas Town itself needs my full attention; between that and Beads it’s a wonder I get anything done at all. > So I had to step back from the community. I do find it amazing how they band together, dissenting voices rolling around like a big Katamari Damacy ball, and yet they somehow collectively find the discipline to act like financial analysts for institutional investors, weighing developer dossiers, product business cases, and doing critiques like a collective of professionals. All in crypto-bro speak. But it’s the same due diligence. > But the CT community, like any highly engaged stakeholders, were going to be asking for a lot of my time. There are always strings attached. [0] https://steve-yegge.medium.com/steveys-birthday-blog-34f437139cb5 https://steve-yegge.medium.com/steveys-birthday-blog-34f4371...
- Quarrelsome 6mo ago
  from my admittedly brief research into it, $GAS was sending him transaction fees, as it desired the association. So it wasn't him selling a tangible number of coins to a particular person. So I figure to pay it back, he'd have to trace down the owners of every tx and pay them back the tx fee. Perhaps that's easy, perhaps its non-trivial. According to the tweet[0] he made yesterday, in order to donate the combined funds to charity he has to submit 230 separate transactions on his phone. [0] https://x.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351 https://x.com/Steve_Yegge/status/2044114434348724351
  - coldtea 6mo ago
    Poor him. He is so inconvenienced in this whole process of returning money that's not his
    - Quarrelsome 6mo ago
      Maybe he's a cunt, but I'd rather wait until he responds before burning his house down.
- throw-93 6mo ago
  Cult 101: Building a massive reality distortion field as a kind of team sport always means forgiving any/all crimes from thought-leaders. Bonus points if you make the crimes look like a virtue
RIMR 6mo ago
Donating ill-gotten gains does not legitimize them. This isn't a confusing concept... Also, it's cryptocurrency. There is literally no burden to prove that this money was donated, or what "charity" even means in this context.
overgard 6mo ago
I don't really see how that makes it ok. I stole your wallet, but I gave the cash to a homeless person!
coldtea 6mo ago
If stolen via a crypto rugpull, it wasn't his to give to begin with.
georgemcbay 6mo ago
The way he presents this situation as being foisted upon him against his will in that tweet comes across very different than his original disclosure where he made it sound like a positive windfall. I'm not accusing him of doing anything wrong as he didn't originate the coin, but his original disclosure messaging on the situation was pretty horrible which is why it harmed his reputation.
Zafira 6mo ago
This is a sincerely dishonest take to try and avoid responsibility for participating in something deeply unethical and scammy. If this were about evidence in a criminal trial, I would start opining about a poisoned tree. The sad thing is that it often works. Just look at how people view Andrew Carnegie now. After his reputation was sullied by his company’s behavior in the Homestead Strike, his philanthropy was done, in-part, to try and restore his reputation.
toraway 6mo ago
> But for God's sake, don't accuse me of pumping it. They paid him to use his product's brand name on an obvious crypto rug pull, he agreed, promoted it on his blog, then people lost money. His "apology" would be more effective without including all the whining about accurately describing the sequence of events he voluntarily participated it for personal gain.

Leynos 6mo ago

How does this work? Someone names a coin after his project, pays him commission for every transaction so he will be incentivised to give it positive coverage on his blog, then sells their stake once the value inflates leaving bagholders with worthless coinage and Yegge with his commission? Edit: Apparently so: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/01/22/steve-yegges-gas-town-vibe-coding-goes-crypto-scam/ https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/01/22/steve-yegges-gas-town-vib...

foltik 6mo ago

Oh yikes, I had no idea it was that bad... https://steve-yegge.medium.com/bags-and-the-creator-economy-249b924a621a https://steve-yegge.medium.com/bags-and-the-creator-economy-...

QuercusMax 6mo ago

Anyone who invests in a new cryptocoin in 2026 has to know that it's almost certainly a scam. It's just straight up gambling.

glerk 6mo ago

Not to get pedantic, but rugpulling is still not strictly speaking “stealing”, because everyone is playing according to the protocol’s rules. Someone controlling a large share of pool tokens can decide to liquidate them and extract the other asset in the pair. Market participants are aware of this risk and who is controlling what share of the tokens at any moment. This is not to excuse the scummy behavior. I didn’t know Steve Yegge went this low just to make a quick buck, and I lost almost all respect for him.