What is Keybase and how to use it with Stellar?

Keybase is a key directory that maps social media identities to encryption keys in a publicly auditable manner. For Stellar users, Keybase provides a way to verify your identity and associate it with your Stellar account — adding a layer of trust and discoverability to your on-chain presence.

Why Keybase Matters for Stellar

Stellar's federation protocol allows you to use a human-readable address (like olvis*stellar.org) instead of a long public key. Keybase enhances this by allowing you to prove that your Stellar address belongs to you — verified against your GitHub, Twitter, Reddit, and other social accounts.

Setting Up Keybase with Stellar

1. Download and install Keybase from keybase.io
2. Create a Keybase account and verify your social identities
3. In the Keybase app, navigate to the Stellar wallet section
4. Link your Stellar public key to your Keybase identity
5. Your Keybase username becomes your Stellar federation address

Sending Stellar Payments via Keybase

Once set up, you can send XLM and other Stellar assets directly to any Keybase user by their username. This makes sending crypto as easy as sending a message — no need to copy and paste long public keys.

Resources

[1] Keybase — Official Website

[2] Stellar Federation — How it Works