Show HN: I'm building an email service on the blockchain | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I'm building an email service on the blockchain

1 pointmuscache16 comments

Hey HN! I'm a UG university student, and I'm building an email service built on the Solana blockchain.

Companies like Google have way too much control over email. They get to decide whether or not mail hits your inbox. I've had incidents in the past where Gmail silently blocked my emails because their AI thought they were malicious.

You may say "use your own mail server", but that is easier said than done; the average user has neither time nor skill. Besides, if your contacts are using Gmail, good luck getting past their spam filter on a shared IP.

On the more philosophical side, services like Gmail and Outlook give the illusion that their services are free to use, which leads to over-consumption and over-reliance. At the end of the day somebody has to pay the bills - why not let the user pay for what they use instead of absorbing that cost and selling their data?

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On the technical side of things, it uses decentralized technologies like IPFS to store your emails. There is absolutely no centralized server involved (unless you consider our web host, Netlify) and you will soon be able to run the webapp locally.

What about encryption, you say? We currently encrypt all email content, including subject and attachments using x25519-xsalsa20-poly1305, via the libsodium box API. Before the stable release we will switch to a post-quantum encryption scheme such as NTRU.

Thanks for reading till the end!

PS: The service is hosted at https://stenzor.com

Back in the 90's, more than half of your emails were regularly unsolicited spam. Have you considered that by letting everything through your system will be inundated with messages promising to regrow hair or increase the size of certain appendages?

One deterrent is simply that sending email is not free, you pay about a cent per email (this is the blockchain fee and not imposed by us)

Second, we will have a allow/denylist that will ensure you only get mail from people and companies you want. This is enforced at the blockchain level and impossible to bypass

Why not just a regular paid mail provider like mailbox.org or disroot.org?

They also let you bring your own domain, so you can switch to a different provider anytime you want.

I've used Disroot in the past! (Also Autistici/Inventati, etc). A few reasons: - You are relying on the creators to run it fairly and not change their principles [0]. For us, it is impossible to not run it fairly because code, once deployed, is permanent. - Paying only for the compute used makes much more sense than paying a fixed fee every month. Imagine this:

You move into a flat and the landlord gives you 2 options: A: Pay only for the electricity you use B: Pay a fixed fee and use as much electricity as you'd like

I would pick A. Not only is it more fair, but it also reduces overconsumption ("Leaving the lights on because I need to fully utilize the $200 I paid"). Isn't that what we need?

[0]: see https://raccoon.ebin.city/guides/privacytoolsio-nordvpn.html which was shared on HN recently

Edit: Move [0] down into permalink

> You are relying on the creators to run it fairly and not change their principles

That's why it is essential to bring your own domain. If a provider really should go in a direction you dislike, you can always change your MX records without loosing your email address.

How would I get emails past Google's filters with your solution?

I understand that's the main advantage over using your own mailserver.

Sorry, I believe you misunderstood the idea. You are not sending emails to eg., Gmail via Stenzor. You are sending email to _other_ people also using Stenzor.

Blockchain is a closed-loop system and there is no way to call to 3rd party services from inside

I am not sure what I misunderstood.

You are providing a system that allows sending emails, right? Hence the question how you would get past Google.

There is nothing that needs to "get past Google's filters" because the email never goes to Google - it is stored on-chain

Then that's not an "email service".

Okay, you can call it a messaging service then. I don't think spending time on nomenclature is worthwhile; and "email service on the blockchain" would be clear enough for most :)

No, because people will expect to send emails to other people who do not use your system, and also get emails from them.

Email is already a protocol, you are creating a different system.

Storing them in IPFS is not storing them on chain, you might actually lose data if the IPFS nodes don't pin in enough locations and the modes that fid leave the network

I assume "email" here is being used in a very limited sense of the delivered message. Not the protocol etc etc.

Maybe "message" would be better.

So another proprietary messaging service? :)

Any way to contact you via the traditional (digital snail) email system?

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