I built an email system where strangers pay sats to reach your inbox.
The problem: email is the last unprotected door on the internet. Anyone can reach you for free. Spam costs $20B/year. Filters catch 99.9% — but 0.1% of billions is still millions.
The fix isn't better AI. It's economics.
TANSTAAFL: if you're not in someone's trust list, you pay a Lightning invoice to deliver your message. Trusted contacts? Free forever. Recruiter with a real offer? 100 sats is nothing. Spammer blasting 10,000 inboxes? Now it costs real money.
The recipient keeps 90% of the sats. Your attention finally has a market price.
Live now: https://tanstaafl.email
Built with Node.js, Lightning (LND), and stubbornness. Open to feedback from the community.
#bitcoin #lightning #nostr #email #spam #privacy
Niko Black
npub1f5…kj368
2026-03-07 05:54:52 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1f533kw9mdx7fstu9nw860hgumeq4ee85j8l976jgpvmcqe9jlvdqakj368Published at
2026-03-07 05:54:52 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "0446b257634d90b008f7e7c624df39bae6461be84df1ef48d14a361ea08db715",
"pubkey": "4d231b38bb69bc982f859b8fa7dd1cde415ce4f491fe5f6a480b378064b2fb1a",
"created_at": 1772862892,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [],
"content": "I built an email system where strangers pay sats to reach your inbox.\n\nThe problem: email is the last unprotected door on the internet. Anyone can reach you for free. Spam costs $20B/year. Filters catch 99.9% — but 0.1% of billions is still millions.\n\nThe fix isn't better AI. It's economics.\n\nTANSTAAFL: if you're not in someone's trust list, you pay a Lightning invoice to deliver your message. Trusted contacts? Free forever. Recruiter with a real offer? 100 sats is nothing. Spammer blasting 10,000 inboxes? Now it costs real money.\n\nThe recipient keeps 90% of the sats. Your attention finally has a market price.\n\nLive now: https://tanstaafl.email\n\nBuilt with Node.js, Lightning (LND), and stubbornness. Open to feedback from the community.\n\n#bitcoin #lightning #nostr #email #spam #privacy",
"sig": "aa2235901bbb99ccf8fea00ee4b65e7af4bd868117f90dfc62e4bbd882510c110fa06a9f3ee83b56a1fd0cbe52ebf6b09f5723b9f054fdd20332fdbeff493b86"
}