21 Inc's New Venture: Email That Pays Recipients in Bitcoin

The Bitcoin company 21 Inc has launched yet another platform to its lineup of services that competes with social email systems like Linkedin’s Inmail. Essentially the company wants people to replace their public email with an inbox that pays in bitcoin.

Also read: Coinsecure’s Benson Samuel: ‘India’s Bitcoin Interest Spiking’

21 Inc Wants You to Get Paid to Receive Emails

The San Francisco-based 21 Inc is a company that’s focused on utilizing Bitcoin for a wide array of applications including big data, hardware, the Internet of Things (IoT), and now a social email platform. The newly launched service is similar to Linkedin’s Inmail system which enables users to pay Linkedin to forward an email to people they are not connected with, but would like to contact.

In contrast to Linkedin’s platform, 21 Inc’s service pays the recipient of the email and the company charges the sender an additional 10 percent fee. The email application that compensates recipients is available for both mobile and desktop operating systems.

“Replace your public email with an inbox that pays you,” explains 21 Inc. “Set up a 21 profile to receive paid messages from people outside your network. Keep the money, or donate it to charities. It’s like Linkedin Inmail, except you get paid. — Recruiters, salespeople, and companies can now send paid messages to compensate you for your time.”

Surveys, Charities, and Contacting Industry Leaders

The new service also pays users to participate in surveys that reward people with bitcoin after completing the tasks. Users can send their earnings to another wallet immediately, but 21 Inc also gives a list of charities where people can donate their funds instead. Charities include nonprofits such as Black Girls Code, Stanford University’s Folding program, and Coincenter.

On the sending side, the prices to make contact with someone can vary depending on the person. For instance contacting Ben Horowitz, the general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, costs US$100. Then there are many other profiles from companies such as Comcast Ventures, Angel List, Qualcomm, and Google Ventures.

The idea enables recipients to get compensated for their time but also allows a connection that may prove fruitful. The concept could be useful to a founder of a startup looking for seed funding or someone trying to create a new partnership.

With $121 Million Raised, Can 21 Inc Find the Right Market?

The new email service adds to the growing list of 21 Inc’s Bitcoin-related platforms that include its 21 computer, library tutorials, and its fee-market and node data feeds. The company founded in 2013 by Balaji S. Srinivasan, Matt Pauker, Veerbhan Kheterpal, Nigel Drego, and Daniel Firu has been testing different types of platforms since 2015.

Alongside this, investors have had high expectations for the young startup, injecting $121 million into the company’s coffers. The company which has been continuously changing may be pivoting its focal points in order to find a niche market within the Bitcoin industry. 21 Inc seems to think users will be interested in its paying inbox application.

“Get a response from some of the most important people in tech. Pitch your startup idea, ask for career advice, or get a definitive answer on tabs vs. spaces,” explains 21 Inc.

What do you think about 21 Inc’s latest business move to capture the social email market? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of 21 Inc’s website, Pixabay, and Bitcoin.com.

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