Investment
Paying for your latte in cryptocurrency tokens may seem far-fetched, at least
for the foreseeable future, but the reality may be a closer than any of us
imagined.
This comes as the result of a new partnership, between the Stellar
Development Foundation and a new company from the founders of OKCupid,
a cryptography-centric initiative, called Keybase.
The exact size of Stellar's investment in the project has not been disclosed,
but it is rumored to be substantial and Keybase has asserted that with this
funding, no further VC rounds of investment are required. However, Stellar will
not be taking a seat on the Keybase board.
According to Keybase co-founder Chris Coyne, the startup aims to improve
end-to- end encryption, with an infrastructure that enables it to accelerate
person-to- person payment, through its partnership with Stellar and use of the
company's digital currency, lumens.
Although he is best known for being half of the popular American dating site
OKCupid, Coyne asserts that his interest in cryptocurrencies goes back
years. In fact, during his time at OKCupid, alongside co-founder
Maxwell Khron, who has joined him in establishing Keybase, the
matchmaking service became one of the first well-established tech
companies to accept payments in bitcoin.
Initially, Keybase will be accepting fiat currencies, although its intention
is to eventually enable users to utilize lumens. According to Coyne,
cryptocurrencies have still not met their full potential and made the
transition from serving as a store of value, or a form of speculation, to a
mainstream currency option. Yet he believes Stellar may be the key to
helping the average consumer make the leap, because it has minimal
transaction fees and is so incredibly fast.
Keybase's technology allows for the creation of a repository of public
keys. This repository enables data to be encrypted to all of a user's
screens without demanding the inconvenience of PGP keys.
Keybase already enables users to perform a variety of actions using
end-to- end encryption, including sending files and chats, and running
Slack- type collaborations across the user's devices. Users never have
to place their faith solely in Keybase, as private keys remain on the
device where they were created.
Coyne stated that there will be an announcement later in 2018 when the
product launches that will show how Keybase is set to make person-to-
person digital currency transactions easier. This seems to suggest that
the company's plans with Stellar for the lumen's ecosystem goes
beyond just providing a wallet.
Keybase users could benefit from a variety of features of Stellar's
lumens, such as the cryptocurrency's ability to serve as an IOU for
traditional fiat currencies that can be sent between users.
These lumens backed by fiat currency could be used internationally
through use of the blockchain, enabling an English user to pay in pound
sterling, to a German, who would receive the payment in euros, for a
nominal transaction fee.
The possibilities this partnership offers are exciting, and in getting
Stellar investment for Keybase, it looks like OKCupid's founders may
just have found the perfect match.
