Keybase was always a de-anonymization platform, and there have always been spam/phishing concerns for the platform. The crypto wallet was a dumb way to force them to address some of the spam/phishing/harassment issues inherent in the platform as a "social media" with ties to nearly every other social media through its validation checks, but it was past time needed for spam/phishing/harassment control (as some minorities had said for years prior to the crypto wallet forcing such things).