Keybase and Stellar Partner on XLM Airdrop Worth $118M

[pixelperfect]

This is an interesting/generous giveaway...

I'm not sure what to think about XLM. On the one hand, I am very pessimistic about all altcoins, but on the other, I am impressed with Stripe, Keybase, and the teams behind those products.

[Bitcoin_iencli]

XLM is a very cool altcoin system, thanks to it there is no third party so no commissions and really low TRX cost. IBM also makes a lot of server as nodes for the Stellar network.

[jwr]

At this point, I am at a complete loss to understand what it is that Keybase is, or is doing.

A pity, because it started so well, as a way to manage my online identity.

[ve55]

It seems like they want to do a lot of things, but they embark on new projects before previous ones have gained significant adoption. This makes it appear like they lack a general direction, with some of the suggestions on this page already spanning from key management to cryptocurrency to group chat.

Everyone likes free money, but I'm not sure if this will be a net plus for them or not, it comes with a lot of overhead in multiple areas, and I hope they realize that with this post.

[giancarlostoro]

It is a swiss army at this point. I don't mind some of the options. I was hoping they'd make email one of their endeavours in a way that's compatible with protonmail as an alternative. I was also hoping they would sell me additional storage or something.

[novok]

Client-Side encrypted chat, git, storage, 'team groups', wallet and identity.

All of it kind of slow and something you can't pay for to expand limits, so you can't rely on it as a company or for your own personal use.

Currently I use it to store my personal dot files and share it with my work laptop.

[3JPLW]

It's like Pied Piper, but with cryptography instead of compression!

[davej]

Slack is probably their closest competitor at this stage. But they do crypto (stellar) wallets + git + identity too. The encrypted git functionality is really handy for sharing API keys.

[nickik]

I don't care about that crypto currency stuff. I still think Keybase overall is a great tool.

[Legogris]

Personally, the online identity part is the thing I'm the _least_ excited about with Keybase and would actually prefer it without (or, even better, selective disclosure where I can choose to give proofs of identity to users without Keybase sniffing it up).

I find it

[norswap]

Throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks can be a legitimate strategy. We'll see if it pays.

[pwelch]

Their private encrypted git repos and file storage is pretty solid.

[tawm]

How to join the drop:

1) install Keybase: https://keybase.io/download

2) add your device

3) in the app, go to devices (second to last item in the nav) and add two paper keys

4) click on your avatar (top of nav) and select "View profile"

5) click "Prove your [GitHub, Hackernews]" and follow the steps (HN might take a while to update, took about 2 mins for me)

6) now you should be able to join the drop

[yebyen]

(edit: I just had to restart Keybase app.)

If I see four checkmarks and "Register inside the Keybase app" what am I missing? Do I just need to make sure I have a stellar wallet, or is there something else?

I'm using the Keybase app for MacOS and don't see any indication that I have joined the drop, or prompts which mention it.

The "register" call-to-action button just sends you to https://keybase.io/download which has a link at the top, " News: the Keybase Stellar Space Drop " that sends you right back to the same page as referenced in the post.

[printablegb]

Hi. Does anyone know how I can join the xlm airdrop? I dont have a keybase account or a github or hacker news account. I created an account for keybase today but they say I am too late and need to connect an account which was registered before the 9th September? Any help please. Thanks.

[SilasX]

Sorry to be the pedant here, but this isn't the correct use of "airdrop", or at least, not how it's commonly used in the cryptocurrency community.

And airdrop typically refers to a fork that someone starts of an existing cryptocurrency, but keeps the same global ledger (blockchain or equivalent) up to a certain date. At that date/time, anyone who held the cryptocurrency at the time is treated as having that same amount in the new fork.

Hence why it's called an "airdrop": from the perspective of existing users, it feels like someone just dumped some freebies on you.

This is not an airdrop, in that meaning. It's just a regular giveaway.

(With that said, this finally gave me the kick in the pants to sign up for Keybase. I initially ignored it because, well, I don't hold any XLM or have the software for it set up, why would I benefit from an airdrop? Glad I read the fine print.)

[al-king]

The 'airdrop' analogy doesn't really capture anything about the involvement of branching ledgers, so it doesn't seem entirely unfair to use the same giveaway jargon the community's previously used. But definitely, a different mechanism is involved here.

[skybrian]

Previous topic that got flagged for some reason:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20919736

[floatingatoll]

I flagged that one (and this one) because a cryptocoin giveaway isn’t newsworthy at HN, any more than “free iPad contest” or “get a $20 gift card” deals would be.

[gavreh]

Original topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20919736

[sliken]

Seems like increased popularity is impacting keybase.

My client is now getting:

Error: ERROR CODE 218 - internal chat storage error: readBlock: failed to decrypt block: 1 in method chat.1.local.getThreadNonblock at new s (file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:561326) at file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:561922 at u (file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:561961) at file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:1242674 at file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:3018547 at e._call (file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:2580383) at file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:2580523 at s (file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:2580163) at e._fulfill (file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:2580493) at s (file:///opt/keybase/resources/app/desktop/dist/main.bundle.js:1:2579694)

[t0mbstone]

The funny thing is that it seems that the amount of XLM you get (according to https://keybase.io/a/i/r/d/r/o/p/spacedrop2019) is related to the number of people who sign up.

It appears that the amount of airdrop money is being divided equally amongst all the people who sign up. So in a round-about way, after you have signed up, you are actually incentivized to not spread the news.

As it stands right now, if nobody else signs up, I will receive over $19,000 XLM (roughly $1136 USD).

So yeah. Nobody else sign up for this, please!

[yebyen]

From the top of the bottom part:

> The Finest of Fine Print

> No individual recipient will get more than $500 USD worth of Lumens.

[zilian]

The airdrop site says "You'll get 1,835 Lumens (XLM) if no one else registers. " but on the first drop I got 356 XLM (20.92USD).

[eevilspock]

if the cryptocurrency fails its dollar value will plummet. So do you really want no one to sign up?

[EdTsft]

I'm confused by the stellar sign-up terms. "6. WE ARE UNABLE TO HELP DISTRIBUTE SDF LUMENS TO USERS IN CERTAIN COUNTRIES. By activating this wallet you agree you're not in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Crimea, or any other country or region subject to sanctions by OFAC; further you agree you're not a non-resident alien of the United States."

So this is only open to people living in the USA or people with some sort of non-alien legal status in the USA who are not currently residing in the list of banned countries? Seems odd to ban a specific list of countries, and then on top of that ban almost everyone who is not in the USA.

[josh2600]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Foreign_Assets_Contr... << This is the wikipedia article you're looking for if you want context.

[3JPLW]

It's actually pretty scary giving out money (in any form) to international peoples potentially sanctioned by OFAC. Making it their problem through an EULA is an interesting strategy.

[shauifly]

I join keybase and github and hacker news to be able to join and get stellar but didnt allow me.. i dont know what happened but i was qualified cos i joined sept 9.. can someone help me about it.. it was lagging that time i guess theres a lot of people registering that time..

[nickik]

I think Keybase is great but I'm not really much interested in the Crypto Currency stuff. I would much rather they focus on good authentication services, there is so much great things you can do with what they have now.

[3JPLW]

When I first saw this I just assumed it was some sort of spam/scam. What's the rationale for giving away money here? Is it purely Keybase/Stellar marketing?

How is Keybase planning on making money?

[gexla]

They aren't giving away money. They are creating these coins out of thin air. The only way anyone is losing money is possibly by deflating the value of existing coins by creating more supply. That these coins are worth anything at all was sort of luck by being early in the race. The top 10 - 20 coins don't seem to change much.

These airdrops were an expectation from the start. The first coins from this organization were also airdropped and they have done other airdrops since.

I'm not a guru in this space, but I believe the idea for Stellar was to be more of a utility coin as opposed to a store of value.

[jazzyjackson]

Just think of it as Universal Basic Income... get your coinage into circulation, and when people use your coins to exchange value, now your coins have value! So as the coin minter, hopefully you've kept some coins for yourself too, and now you have money!

[dummy]

I am excited about this XLM Airdrop. On the one hand the reputation of cryptocurrencies and in particular XLM will increase. And on the other hand, Keybase also creates real life use cases for the cryptopcurrencies, away from Crypto exchanges.

[Angelofanarchy]

Great news and great partnership, being here in 2019 is exciting. Everything is evolving and the blockchain is a wise choice to take. Good work to everybody on Keybase and Stellar, of course to HN too, keep going guys!

[StavrosK]

This happened? So even though I have a Keybase account that I use regularly, because I didn't click "join the airdrop", I missed this month's giveaway?

[malgorithms]

Nope, that's not the case, in fact you'll get the Lumens automatically within a day or so. If you want to _continue_ after the first month, you'll need to click the button in the app saying you want to. But you have a month to do that.

[killjoywashere]

What's the going rate for alpaca socks?

[Slinkydu]

Hello, i just want to ask. i just created and keybase account. that was before sept 9. does this mean i don't get any airdrop? not even for the next month or so?

[Hayashi151]

your question is confusing. when did you create the keybase account? BEFORE or AFTER 9/9/19? if after, do you have any older GH or HN accounts before 9/9?

[hmhrex]

Could this potentially dilute the worth of XLM?

[BigWhig]

Could this dilute the value of HN?

[cryptono]

very great sir

[mpascale00]

I appreciate the free money, but is their goal to get me to use this cryptocurrency?

[mr_the_face]

Yes, yes it is. Or at least become familiar with it.

[Grrr222]

New to Keybase & Hacker News.Seems legit and a good tool to start learning the ins and outs.

[griss2823]

Quisiera hacer una pregunta yo soy nueva en keybase pero si ya tenia cuenta en GitHub antes del 9 que quiere decir que estoy en la primera ronda?

[dondryder]

Didn't Stellar recently do a similar airdrop with Blockchain wallet? Seems a contrived way to increase adoption/use of xlm...

[keussen]

Correct, but they're now winding down the airdrop. You can read more about it here: https://blog.blockchain.com/2019/07/15/airdrops-adoption-wha...

[hashtagjohnt]

I can't believe this is actually in the terms of service:

7. YOU AGREE TO HELP SPREAD THE WORD. You vow to lean about Stellar by visiting https://stellar.org and by testing Stellar-in-Keybase, simply by sending Lumens to people you care about, or at least your enemies' enemies. You will aim to encourage 5 people to join Keybase for its Stellar features.

I legitimately might not sign up now.

[gilrain]

Whimsy? In my grim, algorithmic reality? It's more likely than you think.