This reminds me of a US District Court judge's ruling about Tucker Carlson on Fox News: "Any reasonable viewer 'arrives with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statements".

Sure, if you're talking about rubes who just got off the bus in the big city, then perhaps there's a point buried somewhere deep in the pile you're pushing. But is that who you think the HN audience is? Admittedly, talking to you, I can't rule it out.

Amusingly, by (dictionary) definition you're wrong, because "grift" means "engage in petty or small-scale swindling" (Merriam-Webster), but you're alluding to a much larger-scale phenomenon.

But it's tinfoil-hattish to claim that projects like this and the PR about it is part of a "grift". You're squinting hard to be able to see what you want to see.