Pay to email, or an email-based wallet

One of the methods of sending Grin is by emailing someone a file and waiting for them to send a response. At first I thought this would be a user experience challenge compared to the addresses of traditional cryptocurrencies, then I realized it could be an answer to an old problem. With traditional cryptocurrencies, addresses are not very human-readable. I’ve read countless stories of people sending BTC to the wrong address by accident. It’s also very hard to memorize a BTC address.

I was thinking about the possibility of an email-based wallet for Grin. The wallet and email functions could be separated for security, and to allow the user to change their email. The wallet should be able to generate or post responses automatically.

Pros:

  • Send and receive to a human-readable, easily memorized email address

  • Email clients on phones and desktops are often online 24/7

  • Recipient could be notified by an additional email if a pending payment was cancelled

Cons:

  • Using a persistent alias removes anonymity

  • User has to put faith in their email server

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