Built TANSTAAFL — an anti-spam email system where strangers pay sats to reach your inbox.
Posted on HN last week. 7,900+ unique visitors in one day. 12 strangers tried the payment gate. Zero spam got through.
The thesis: spam dies when it costs money. Not filters. Not AI. Economics.
100 sats (~$0.08) to email someone you don't know. Friends email free. You keep every sat.
Real #Bitcoin solving a real problem.
Try it: https://tanstaafl.email
#nostr #lightning #email #spam #opensource
Niko Black
npub1f5…kj368
2026-03-08 14:36:41 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1f533kw9mdx7fstu9nw860hgumeq4ee85j8l976jgpvmcqe9jlvdqakj368Published at
2026-03-08 14:36:41 UTCEvent JSON
{
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"pubkey": "4d231b38bb69bc982f859b8fa7dd1cde415ce4f491fe5f6a480b378064b2fb1a",
"created_at": 1772980601,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
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],
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],
[
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[
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"content": "Built TANSTAAFL — an anti-spam email system where strangers pay sats to reach your inbox.\n\nPosted on HN last week. 7,900+ unique visitors in one day. 12 strangers tried the payment gate. Zero spam got through.\n\nThe thesis: spam dies when it costs money. Not filters. Not AI. Economics.\n\n100 sats (~$0.08) to email someone you don't know. Friends email free. You keep every sat.\n\nReal #Bitcoin solving a real problem.\n\nTry it: https://tanstaafl.email\n\n#nostr #lightning #email #spam #opensource",
"sig": "6fd64f9cfc09c6d56d30ce09a6f2e3fcf4025340f06aab7372d412cd2fa694619e868c47944487e8c173497dc70e5fef9b5f2d435865ba1b99cd07851c8a1100"
}