TL;DR
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EtherMail lets your crypto wallet address double as an email address, with all communications encrypted end-to-end.
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There is also a built-in platform called ‘Paywall’ where users can select advertisers from whom they would like to receive messages.
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When users sign up and read the marketing emails sent their way, she earn the advertising dollars, not the platform.
Full story
Imagine if advertisers had to pay you – personal – to reach you.
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You see an ad on Instagram – paid.
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You walk past a billboard – paid.
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You open a marketing email – paid.
The jury is out on whether those first two will ever exist, but the last? It’s one thing! At least, it’s something on EtherMail.
Here’s the idea:
EtherMail lets your crypto wallet address double as an email address, with all communications encrypted end-to-end.
This means that only you and the person receiving your email can decrypt and read the content of your message.
(Compared to platforms like Gmail and Outlook, where Google and Microsoft can see/read everything you send, if they want to).
That’s cool… but the ‘get paid to be advertised’ model is what we’re here for! So what is it all about?
In fact, EtherMail has built in a platform called “Paywall” where users can select advertisers from whom they would like to receive messages. When users sign up and read the marketing emails sent their way, she earn the advertising dollars, not the platform.
Plus! The pay-to-reach model is about to end the concept of email spam.
(Spammers aren’t going to send millions of emails a day if it’s going to cost them a lot of money).
As a standalone concept, EtherMail is a solid embodiment of one of Web3’s core promises: cutting out middlemen.
Now… it’s not without its problems.
Like, for example, the “chicken or egg” problem that EtherMail faces.
Advertisers typically want to market to a LOT of users, and EtherMail will most likely become a niche product for a while – so it will be hard to find those advertisers at first.
At the same time, EtherMail is throwing new users on the read-to-earn feature.
… so the platform needs advertisers to attract new users, but also needs new users to attract advertisers. Chicken. Egg.
The good news is:
Web3 folks love to tinker and explore, so the promise of being able to message their friends via a wallet address should be enough to get the ball rolling.
Real, tangible, ready-made Web3 products?
We’d love to see it!