I'd like to download and install the wallet but would like to see checksums at a minimum published by Dan first.
It's industry best practice to publish checksum / PGP sign off on wallet downloads, see Bitcoin Core:
https://bitcoin.org/bin/0.9.2.1/SHA256SUMS.ascI understand ur skepticism but srsly, you are not downloading hentai porn here, code has also been peer reviewed by prominent members of the community(NOT known holders), not to mention I find it hard to believe you haven't taken part in any pump and dump coin in ur involvement to the scene, so why on earth would you be so cautious when it comes to sincerely the most promising concept after bitcoin itself?
Disregarding your entirely irrelevant comparison, there is a significant difference between participating in a market on Mintpal, and actually running a piece of software on your computer. I would not involve myself with the latter, beyond testing with minuscule amounts in a virtual environment, if the developer(s) weren't willing to post a pgp signed checksum of the wallet downloads.