What is EtherMail? The ‘Read-to-Earn’ Web3 Email Service

EtherMail aims to deliver “anonymous and encrypted wallet-to-wallet communication” to power Web3 and upend the advertising market.

By Nathan Reiff

4 min read

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EtherMail is a company seeking to transform email to be compatible with Web3. It claims to be the first Web3 email solution, and aims to deliver “anonymous and encrypted wallet-to-wallet communication.”

The shift to Web3 is among the most anticipated developments in the worlds of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and business more broadly. This next generation of the internet seeks to recover control of the web from central organizations and companies, returning power to individual users. One goal of many Web3 advocates is that this reallocation of authority will come alongside renewed user security, privacy, and anonymity.

Communication in Web3

As Web3 remains in development, communication between users can be frustrating. A glut of different platforms—including cryptocurrency exchanges, types of wallets, blockchain-based applications, and more—means that users in this space often have to keep up with several different platforms in order to stay on top of their communications. There also remains the issue of spam and unwanted notifications.

A Web 2.0 email platform is not an ideal candidate for communication in Web3. While legacy email providers are able to offer a great deal—including a single place to manage communications, the ability to filter out spam and unneeded notifications, and so on—they lack the key Web3 components of anonymity, encryption, and security.

This is where EtherMail comes in. This platform utilizes blockchain technology and allows users to connect their digital wallets, facilitating the real-time management of the user’s digital assets. Best of all, emails between EtherMail users are always end-to-end encrypted, so no one on the EtherMail team has access to emails or other data.

A step-by-step guide to opening your account

Read-to-earn

In legacy email systems, users may be targeted by advertisers or spam mailers with little recourse other than to block those individuals. EtherMail takes a cue from the cryptocurrency space by providing the opportunity to earn rewards as a user, depending on how valuable your account is to advertisers.

EtherMail features a platform called the “Paywall,” where users are able to define what kind of content they’re willing to read in exchange for rewards. Advertisers, on the other hand, have to pay in order to be able to access a user’s inbox. This provides the double bonus of rewarding users while also further protecting against spam.

What are EMC and EMT?

EMC is EtherMail’s reward token. Eventually, the company will launch a native utility token, $EMT, and all EMC will be converted to $EMT. Users can earn EMC by performing one or more of the following actions:

  • Reading certain emails on the EtherMail platform.
  • Connecting a digital wallet in order to access an EtherMail account.
  • Leaving a secondary email.
  • Completing IMAP connection.
  • Inviting friends to join EtherMail.

Cheat Sheet

  • Given its focus on anonymity, security, and privacy, one of the major problems facing Web3 is communication between users.
  • Legacy email providers are often centrally-operated and lack anonymity and account security.
  • EtherMail is a Web3 platform aiming to provide anonymous, encrypted wallet-to-wallet communication.
  • EtherMail is powered by blockchain technology, features end-to-end encryption on messages between users, and offers enhanced account security measures.
  • One way that EtherMail helps to mitigate against spam is through the Paywall, a virtual platform which enables users to specify the types of advertisement emails they’re willing to read in exchange for rewards.
  • EtherMail’s current reward system is known as EMC. Users can earn EMC by reading certain emails, connecting digital wallets to their accounts, inviting friends to join EtherMail, and more.
  • EMC will eventually be replaced with EMT, a native utility token, with all EMC being converted into EMT.

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