Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

So when Keybase added Stellar support for payments, this was met with lots of hostility and disappointment, such as 'cryptocoin bullshit' [0] or 'Yeah, I am not going to use any product associated with anything cryptocurrency. Just smells bad. [1]

Now the same thing has happened on Signal; HN's favourite messaging app. So why is this met with warm welcoming arms especially when they are also going into cryptocurrencies?

Maybe the HN sentiment back then was filled with those who missed the crypto bull-run of late 2017 and the same ones have missed it again last year.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16545092

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16546963

Maybe because people trust the signal project more than keybase (which sold out to zoom, of all companies)

I think it's 2 factors.

First, indeed the sentiment changed radically between now and then. For some reason, this subject has always attracted irrationality on HN. Back then any comment vaguely positive about cryptocurrencies would accumulate downvotes, now threads are full of clearly invested shills (you can see it in this very thread).

Secondly and more specifically, Stellar, being a simple Ripple fork with an equally dubious token distribution, was a weird fit for Keybase.

MobileCoin, while having some of the same downsides (federated, centralized token holders distribution) has a more interesting design, and is closer to the actual cryptocurrency/cypherpunk spirit thanks to its fully private transactions and balances.

> So why is this met with warm welcoming arms especially when they are also going into cryptocurrencies?

In the other thread it was not: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26713953

Would only make sense if keybase incorporating stellar occured after acquisition and not before (as it actually happened)

No warm welcome by me.. on the lookout for something different again. Btw, for people using Keybase and considering an alternative, have a look at https://keyoxide.org .. project still young, but very promising plus they intend to only focus on the core features. No chat or other stuff mixed in.

Not sure about how it looked when you posted, but right now a casual scan of the top voted top level comments show that people are mostly against it.

At least Keybase chose a coin that has existing brand-recognition and somewhat reasonable decentralization (in terms of existing holders and nodes) and liquidity.

MobileCoin smells so much more like a ruse than Stellar.

If Keybase is as secure as they claim it to be then it doesn't matter who they sold out to.