Phase outline
What the system still needs
Eight phases, from definition to a completeness bar. This is the research plan, not a draft. Items marked open are the next shifts.
00Define the phenomenon
DoneA one-sentence definition a later round can live with, plus what it is not.
- Done
Working definition
Unsolicited routing of memecoin trading fees to a public identity, followed by outreach that treats a claim as endorsement and liquidity event.
- Done
Exclude nearby scams
Wallet-drainer airdrops, fake GitHub funding emails, and celebrity-led rugs are adjacent, not the same play.
- Done
Actors
Deployer / bagworker, mark (dev, celebrity, charity, or impersonated identity), snipers, launchpad, retail, sometimes a KOL who already has a side-channel.
- Done
Variation rule
A variation is only a variation if it changes the map. New rail, new mark class, new claim-event, new aftermath. Costumes of GitHub-PDA stay on that card.
01Mechanism, on-chain
In progressShow someone who has never used Solana how fees move, and that the mark need not consent at launch.
- Done
PumpFees social fee PDA
Program pfeeUxB6… createSocialFeePda + claimSocialFeePda; GitHub userId, Platform.GitHub. Orgs not supported — fees can be lost.
- Done
Bags fee share to social handle
1% trade fee; launcher can route up to ~90% to X/GitHub/Kick without the recipient’s involvement. Claim via linked social.
- In progress
Bankr / Clanker / Doppler redirects
Base-side fee beneficiary can be redirected; claim is wallet-gated. Less GitHub-native, still used for marks.
- Open
What a “claim” looks like on explorers
Need annotated Solscan/Basescan of a first-time GitHub claim vs a spoofed zero-amount claim.
- In progress
Migrate.fun MFT + unmigrated supply
Vault old token → MFT receipt → redeem new mint. Unmigrated % to team. 3% of reclaimed SOL to the platform. Diagram next to the GitHub PDA.
- Done
Socialify escrow + reclaim
Wrapper captures 100% of Pump creator fees, holds them, takes an unpublished cut, releases on a bio-scrape. Deployer can reclaim. Different from a GitHub PDA: the mark is not the only claimant.
02Named case files
In progressThree to five cases on the watch queue, with primary quotes, dates, and on-chain hashes. Log every other named mark — many is good. The binder does not prune.
- Done
$GAS / Steve Yegge / Gas Town
Best documented. LinkedIn ping, Medium essay, Levine column, dump after he stepped back.
- In progress
$RALPH / Geoffrey Huntley
Social-proof used to convert later marks. Confirm claim history and whether he solicited the token.
- In progress
Flurry / Lucipher (live)
LinkedIn InMail → GitHub fees on Pump.fun. Mint 9CANf2…pump. Follow the chart 48h.
- Open
GitHub fee-sharing spoof (Feb 2026)
@0xstrawberrylad thread: fake claim txs to impersonate endorsement. Confirm with Pump team statement.
- Done
A mark who refused
Filled in outline: Steinberger (disavowal) and Gajesh (refund). Interviews still owed. Roemmele is the stuck-claim celebrity.
- In progress
Charity as mark ($SLEEP / LCFA, Rainforest)
Same DM script with a halo. Confirm whether nonprofits solicited, claimed, or were matched.
- Open
GitHub impersonation (OnchainCop pattern)
Need one reconstructed employee: account created after the person, commits backdated, fees claimed by the faker.
- In progress
$PROJECT89 / Parzival (logged)
Oct 2024 unsolicited Pump launch. Stayed on 1% of supply. Migrated Oct 2025 via Migrate.fun to capture fees. Log, not necessarily watch. Reconstruct deployer and the 1%.
- In progress
Catcoin dual-chain MFT claim (live)
18 Aug–7 Sep 2026: SOL+BNB unified into a Pump relaunch via migrate.fun/migrate/mig221. 26 Aug: 30.61% deposited. Official how-to + impersonator Claim-Pad DMs. Named holders: Ovickyoung, ttvtt0304, Dandy09097.
- In progress
HUSTLE first migrate.fun cohort
Jul 2025: TNSR→HUSTLE. 77% migrated, 869 SOL unlocked, 23% of new supply to team treasury. The unmigrated-capture P&L.
- In progress
Socialify / $SOC (logged)
Live ambush SaaS. Official token dead on the curve (~$2.7k USD). Operator unnamed. Need inventory + one bio paste.
- Done
Spark / $SPRK (killed rail, logged)
Four-day TikTok/X wrapper. Launched platform coin 21 Aug, site 404 by 25 Aug. Do not lead with it.
03Follow the money
In progressSeparate launchpad rake, bagworker inventory, mark’s claim, and retail loss. Numbers a later round can chart.
- Open
Platform-level creator fee claims
Dune ~$1.9M/24h, ~$11.9M/7d on Pump — mixed population. Need a query that isolates GitHub PDA claims.
- Done
Launchpad revenue incentive
Pump fees down YoY (DefiLlama: $148M Jan 2025 vs $31.8M Jan 2026) — feature may be a volume-recovery tool.
- Open
One reconstructed P&L
Pick one coin: deployer buys, sniper clip post-claim, mark claim amount, remaining holders, time-to-zero.
04Field interviews
OpenTalk to people. Without them this stays a thread pile, not a reconstructed system.
- Open
Marks
Yegge, Huntley, Lucipher, 2–3 GitHub maintainers who were spammed. Ask: consent, banking, harassment after claim.
- Open
Bagworkers
Need one who will talk on or off record about scripts, target selection (stars, LinkedIn), expected hit rate.
- Open
Platforms
Pump (Alon), Bags (Finn), Bankr. Official claiming guides already exist — get them on the ethics of unsolicited routing.
- Open
Retail loser
Someone who bought because “the GitHub claimed.” Bank statements / wallet if they will share.
- In progress
Run the sensors
7-day sample of the Medium claiming-guide URL + 20 first-time claim_social_fee_pda cards. That is the incoming queue.
- Open
Migrate.fun / Catcoin window
Interview official @MigrateFun (who runs it). Catcoin holders already on-record for fake Claim-Pad DMs (Ovickyoung, ttvtt0304, Dandy09097). Still need one who claimed MFT cleanly. HUSTLE unmigrated % on-chain. Window close ~7 Sep.
05Law, liability, speech
OpenWhat a lawyer will ask: endorsement, unregistered offering, harassment, right of publicity.
- Open
Does a fee claim = endorsement?
Pump’s own guide says claiming “signals potential interest.” That’s the legal tripwire.
- Open
Publicity / trademark of GitHub identity
Using a handle as fee destination without consent. Analogues in domain tasting, unauthorized merch.
- In progress
Pump.fun litigation backdrop
SDNY Aguilar v. Baton (Pump.fun) gambling/securities theories. Context, not the same claim.
06The steelman
In progressYegge’s creator-economy thesis, Huntley’s OSS funding, Bags as a stock market for attention. The map lies without the steelman.
- Open
Genuine OSS funding cases
Is there a maintainer who used claimed fees to ship software and did not become a chart mascot?
- Done
Levine’s joke that became a market
“Memecoin venture capital” — treat as the smartest sympathetic frame.
07Completeness package
OpenWhat a later round should be able to stand on without going back to vibes.
- Open
Opening reconstruction
Lucipher InMail or Yegge’s Schwab scene. Pick one; the other becomes the turn.
- Open
Diagram of fee flow
Trade → 1% → social PDA → claim tx → sniper. One graphic.
- Open
Source binder
Every number with URL, archive, and screenshot date.