- What is decentralised email?
- The incentives problem in decentralised systems
- Types of Incentives
- Benefits of Money and Rewards in Decentralised Email
In recent times, a lot has taken place when it comes to digital technologies that have changed the way we interact with the internet. One such transformation is decentralised systems that arise to give users harder control, privacy, and security.
One of these is decentralised email—it’s a great alternative to the centralised services we use today. While privacy and control are all well and good, decentralised email systems also enable new paradigms around user engagement, incentivisation, and rewards that could be useful in the future of digital communication.
What is decentralised email?
Before we tackle incentives and rewards, it’s important to know what we mean by decentralised email. Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and the like are traditional centralised email systems.
In other words, a single body (um, company) constructs the servers, controls the data, and secures and supports the infrastructure. Decentralised email systems run on a blockchain (or distributed ledger technology, DLT), and nobody controls the entire network. Emails instead are sent across a network of nodes or computers.
Decentralised email allows users to self-host their servers, encrypt messages for extra privacy, and make sure they retain control of their data. In addition, decentralised email platforms tend to rely on open-source development, where the code is open to anybody, and any contributions to it lead to increased transparency, leading to innovation.
The incentives problem in decentralised systems
Tokens are used as a form of governance as well, in addition to a method of reward within this ecosystem. The future development of the platform can become a decentralised governance model where the future of the platform may be decided by token holders, which is consistent with the philosophy of blockchain technology.
In a decentralised network, incentives are an important component, and without incentives, it won’t be working. If it sounds good, it may be. The outcome, however, is not solely a function of how awesome its technology is but also how much users will contribute resources like computing power, storage, or bandwidth.
In centralised systems, companies can pay users for benefiting their platform in some way, for example, with better storage or premium services. But in the distributed model, nothing like this is always applicable; this is because in the traditional monetisation model (advertising, data mining), it does not work.
It creates a large number of chances to develop fresh kinds of benefits and awards consistent with the precept of decentralisation—privacy, autonomy, and user control.
Types of Incentives
Decentralised Email:
Decentralised email provides a chance to rethink how users are incentivised to participate. There are several ways of incentivising people for these activities, from financial rewards to improved platform features. In the section below, we dive into a few of the main types of incentives that are probably going to drive the decentralised email ecosystem.
1. Cryptocurrency and Token-Based Rewards
Cryptocurrency or token incentives are one of the most innovative ways to incentivise participation in decentralised email networks. These digital assets can be treated as rewards to some users that provide valuable resources to the network. The benefits of this approach are manifold:
• Staking Mechanisms: By staking tokens, users can actively improve the security and efficiency of the email network (e.g., they can validate transactions sufficient to earn tokens or confirm transactions if someone else loses theirs). Users stake; they get more tokens.
- Transaction Fees: Since some of these decentralised email systems may require a user to pay small transaction fees when they send or receive an email, for example, usually for more advanced features, or to interact with smart contracts, you can potentially get a nice monthly income by helping others to send mail directly there. Those who are active in participation can earn the tokens as a reward for adding to the efficiency of the network as a whole.
- Incentivising Service Providers: Much like users can stake tokens, providers of email services that maintain nodes can be rewarded with tokens in return for maintaining the network. That’s important because the reliability of decentralised email systems is determined by the availability of and reliability of the underlying infrastructure.
2. Privacy Rewards
Decentralised email is built around privacy. On centralised systems, many users are worried that their data might get gathered, analysed, and monetized. When users hold their data in decentralised email systems, it’s a powerful thing in itself.
Some decentralised email platforms may implement systems where users can earn rewards for demonstrating a commitment to privacy, such as:
- Enhanced Encryption: Privacy-related tokens or features to opt in for users to use additional layers of encryption and secure protocols are a possibility.
- Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Decentralised email systems sometimes offer zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) or other similar technology enabling users to prove they have information (such as identity) without revealing further details. Those users that focused on using these features could be rewarded.
Not only does incentivising privacy improve a user’s experience, but it also increases trust, a key component to the longevity of decentralised networks.
3. Data Storage and Bandwidth Rewards are Decentralised
Many decentralised email systems use a network powered by individuals who volunteer computing power, storage, and bandwidth. Without these contributions, the system is not reliable, not secure, and not scalable. Users who share their resources can be rewarded in a variety of ways:
- Storage Contributions: If users offer storage space for emails and attachments, they could be rewarded through tokens or other rewards. Basically, this is the same concept as decentralised file storage networks like Filecoin.
- Bandwidth Contributions: They could also earn rewards for those helping to route emails and data across the network. This would motivate more nodes to join, bringing speed to email delivery.
- Proof of Resources: But like the proof of stake (PoS) models in the blockchain, decentralised email systems could adopt proof of resources where the users that added the most resources (storage, bandwidth, computing) would be rewarded with tokens.
By encouraging people to contribute to the net’s growth and stability, email service provision becomes a thing performed by and for the community as a whole, as a cooperative effort.
4. Reputation Systems and Gamification
In a decentralised email network, however, reputation may play a vital role as an incentive. Members who do this regularly can build up a reputation so the hardware they leave behind will benefit them. For example:
- Reputation-Based Access: If a device was highly trusted, then it could receive a channel that gave it access to exclusive features like more email storage or higher send limits. On the other side, users with a black reputation (for spamming or something malicious) might be prevented from accessing some services.
- Gamification: By being decentralised, email platforms could gamify participation, giving badges, levels, or points for consistent contributions. Competition to build the best reputation would encourage participation and more user engagement.
Benefits of Money and Rewards in Decentralised Email
In a decentralised email, the introduction of incentives and rewards can bring benefits to not just users, but also the ecosystem as a whole. Below are some of the key advantages:
1. It is a way to offer encouragement to active participation.
Since versatile decentralised email platforms can provide tangible rewards to communicate with more meaningful users.
Contributing to the network’s infrastructure, taking care of privacy concerns, or acting as a support to the system’s governance might be involved. By actively participating in the network, you help it remain robust and decentralised while perpetuating and always changing.
2. Sustaining Decentralised Infrastructure
With traditional email, there’s a central entity (like Google) paying for running the servers and managing the infrastructure. In a decentralised system, the network is dependent upon the contributions of users.
By awarding token-based rewards as well as other incentives, users are ensured to provide the appropriate resources—computing power, storage, or bandwidth—to ensure the existence of the network’s infrastructure.
3. Advances in Privacy and Security
Decentralised email is appealing because it’s fundamentally all about privacy and security. Features designed to improve privacy—including encryption and zero-knowledge proofs—are incentivised through the offer of privacy. The network is, in turn, made more secure and less vulnerable to a bad actor’s attacks.
4. Helping to build community and decentralised governance
Such governances are typically decentralised but are shared among the network participants, as opposed to a single entity overseeing them. Users are allowed to vote for future platform development through token-based rewards. This decentralised decision-making (from the community) promotes community ownership—the values of transparency and autonomy.
Conclusion
Decentralisation is the future of email, based on privacy, user control, and trust. The success of decentralised email systems will depend on incentives and rewards for active participation, security, and a healthy and engaged community will all hinge thus.
Fixed by the entities scripting the systems in ways easily manipulated at their discretion, as these systems continue to grow, we might expect the development of ever more ingenious new reward mechanisms that improve the user experience while putting power in the hands of users, building a more decentralised, secure, and transparent digital communication ecosystem.
Put technology and thinking about incentive structures together, and we could change how we communicate with a decentralised email to make email systems more secure and private and more rewarding and community-driven.
Because there are so many opportunities for innovation, the future of email could very well belong to decentralized networks that reward users in ways that are unimaginable today.