[mcantelon]

>Consider them all schemes to lure money into the creator's wallets

Some launches, like Dogecoin's, are done ethically with no pre-mining. Look at the coin creator's launch plan and if they violate (as the recent Coinye coin did) take them to task for it (Coiye crashed and burned).

[ptmx]

It's effectively the same thing, except that the set of people at the top of the pyramid is larger. It's still most lucrative for the creators, it's just also highly rewarding for the earliest adopters.

[mcantelon]

How is it more lucrative for the creators than the early adopters?

[ptmx]

I can see how my post left room for misinterpretation; my intention was to express that the creators are in the set {people for whom it's most lucrative}. The earliest adopters are in the set too, obviously.

Put differently, my point is that "ethical" launches are simply good marketing, and are quite compatible with the sentiment expressed upthread that "[altcoins] are schemes to lure money into the creator's wallets". If a given coin becomes popular, the creator is going to profit immensely from it whether or not they engaged in pre-mining. By doing an "ethical" launch, they're making it more likely that the coin gains significant adoption, albeit probably decreasing the expected size of their payout. That seems like a smart play, given diminishing marginal utility of money, etc.