Could keybase.io do for crypto what GitHub did for Git?

These guys:

have pulled off some very impressive engineering to deliver a really intuitive and well thought out web front-end for the management of crypto, keys and identities.

It’s obvious from a quick glance that it’s been very, very well thought out, but after setting up an account today, I have been trying to think what possible use cases this service would be good for.

Apart from we already know about crypto, keys and identities from using PGP and the like, I haven’t been able to come up with too much. But I don’t see that as a problem at all. I’m sure more or less the same thing was said when GitHub launched.

I’m really looking forward to see what uses people put this service to, and I am really hopeful that it will end up being just as transformative as GitHub.

And in the interests of pushing these ideas forward, here’s my identity page:

UPDATE1: Here’s a counterpoint to my optimism (via @awendt). Some of the concerns here are certainly legitimate (esp the “don’t invent your own crypto” argument). My optimism stems from taking something that is universally seen as difficult (crypto) and turning it into something that is more accessible. Perhaps this is an impossible goal. Only time, and no doubt concerted attacks, will tell.

UPDATE2: There’s a good discussion over at HackerNews on this topic.