Stellar Partners With Keybase To Simplify Financial Interactions

Stellar (XLM), which facilitates cross-border transactions between individuals and small enterprises in a cost efficient and quick manner, has announced that it has partnered with Keybase to create a system that will enable sending payments only using the end users’ Twitter or Reddit handle and without a need for a long string of digits.

To put it in simpler terms, Stellar aims to create an ecosystem where financial interactions will be similar to social interactions. The project will come under Stellar Development Foundation’s (SDF) partnership grant program.

Stellar hopes to create a global, decentralized product like Venmo, “where you can send around every asset under the sun, not just your local currency—that’s where money is heading, and we want to get Stellar started along the path.”

Stellar stated that its financial contribution to Keybase will be a mix of the US dollar and XLM. To avoid over-hype, Stellar prefers to disclose details regarding other products as they’re completed or nearing completion. According to Stellar, Keybase is well equipped to create Stellar ecosystem components.

About Stellar’s partnership grant program

Stellar is accepting proposals from leading organizations that are building on the Stellar network to improve the global financial landscape and promote financial inclusion. Exceptional organizations who develop and operate products and services that are crucially important to the Stellar Network may receive up to $2,000,000 USD worth of lumens per grant (based on price of lumens at the date of grant).

There are two phases to the grant award: the allocation and the award. When an organization is chosen for the program, the grant amount is set aside in lumens in an escrow account. This is the allocation. All grants are subject to the achievement of milestones and multi-year vesting. If and when these milestones and vesting requirements are met, then the allocated amount will be distributed to the organization. This is the award.

To encourage the development of robust activity in the Stellar ecosystem, the Stellar Development Foundation has allocated 25 billion total lumens to this program to incentivize institutions who make an exceptional impact. SDF will monitor this program on an ongoing basis and make adjustments as necessary to ensure this program continues to meet the goals set out by the mandate.

About Keybase

Keybase, which raised $10.80 million in round A, is a new and free security app for mobile phones and computers. The Keybase founders were previously founders of SparkNotes and OkCupid. It has about 200,000 users and is growing fast. There is an open stellar team on Keybase.

Keybase has created a general set of cryptographically secure tools (chat, file storage, git). According to Keybase, the app. Is for anyone. While introducing the app, Keybase states “Imagine a Slack for the whole world, except end-to-end encrypted across all your devices. Or a Team Dropbox where the server can’t leak your files or be hacked.”