Cardano founder Hoskinson has released Quinelings, open-source programs that can rebuild their own code and take the shape of creatures. However, a Solana meme coin borrowing the name crashed within hours.
The project builds on quines, decades-old programs that print their own source code. Hoskinson calls his versions digital lifeforms.
What Do Cardano Founder Hoskinson’s Quinelings Actually Do?
In his launch video, programs typed into terminals turn into creatures that feed, reproduce, and die.
Each Quineling starts as written steps for a task, supplied by a person or an AI agent. Its moving body maps every one of those steps.
Branching tasks grow fractal bodies, while simpler ones form sunflower-like petals. The project’s website shows five examples, including a route finder and a job scheduler.
Visitors can run each task and click a body region to see that step’s values. A copy button rebuilds the program from its own source and checks the answer.
Before a program is built, its compiler rejects tasks that exceed fixed size limits or contain endless loops.
In a section called the Ranch, two programs can produce a child. One parent’s result can feed into the other’s task, but only when value types and units match.
For now, every example runs as a local browser simulation.
The release extends Hoskinson’s AI focus. In September, he predicted crypto will eat AI. Earlier this month, he dismissed Vitalik Buterin’s AI warning as self-serving. Before that, he released a free watermark removal tool for Anthropic’s Claude.
Why Did a Copycat Meme Coin Crash Within Hours?
The repository never mentions Cardano, blockchain, or tokens.
Still, a Solana meme coin called Quinelings appeared on PumpSwap shortly after the post.
Its DexScreener page links to Hoskinson’s GitHub and X post. However, nothing confirms that the Cardano founder is involved.
The coin lost more than 90% of its value within hours.
Famous names often move such tokens. In August, a Musk raccoon post sent the JIMOTHY meme coin up 331%.
Bots can buy the instant such tokens go live, leaving later buyers with losses.
Cardano founder Hoskinson presents Quinelings as a research prototype, not a token. Its stated aim is to make AI agents’ tasks easy to keep, inspect, and share.
