What changed in BTC.email, newest first. Early versions ran Lightning payments on Bitcoin's test network, so no real bitcoin moved.
The rebuild reaches solid ground
BTC.email is being rebuilt on new hosting. The reconnected service now refuses anything it cannot verify, Lightning login works again, and this page keeps a dated record of what changes.
Run the site's server code next to its database, so pages answer sooner.
Refuse incoming mail notices and scheduled jobs whenever their secret is missing, instead of letting them through.
Stop serving requests when their rate limits cannot be checked, rather than serving them unchecked.
Sign you in on the server, and let your account data change only through checked requests.
Repair Lightning login, so a wallet can sign you in again.
Keep request limits and the command-line sign-in handoff in the main database, so signing in no longer depends on a separate service.
Check the signature on your session for every signed-in page, and keep you signed in when a page sends you elsewhere.
Refuse new passwords that have appeared in known data breaches.
Switch to database keys that can be rotated one at a time.
Reconnect incoming mail: each message is read in full before it is filed, and a retried delivery never sends a second payment request.
Send sign-up and password emails from a BTC.email address.
Remove btc.jobs browsing from the command line and the terminal app, which stopped working once its listings went away.
Fit every public page on a phone screen: the header keeps the main button, and About and the command-line guide sit in the footer.
Start this release history, with one entry per day.
BTC.email starts again
After a pause, work on BTC.email resumes. The first step reconnects every hosted service; the next replaces the design from top to bottom.
Plan the restart step by step: reconnect the hosted services first, then rebuild the product.
Stop scheduled jobs from running when their secret is missing.
Bring the tools that build the site up to date.
A private alpha, then a pause
The homepage now says plainly that BTC.email is a private alpha. New development paused until a launch partner was in place.
Show a private alpha notice when you open the homepage.
Pause new features while the launch partnership comes together.
More ways back into your account
Getting back into your account no longer depends on a single route, and the service gained the groundwork for scheduled mail, folders, and labels.
Recover your account, confirm a change of email address, and link a Lightning wallet as a second way to sign in.
Add scheduled sending, folders, labels, and attachments to the shared interface, ready for the apps to use.
Apply the username rules for reserved, abandoned, and inactive names on a schedule, the same for everyone.
A calmer homepage, in light or dark
The homepage now gets to the point: search for a username first, see what it costs right below, and pick the theme that suits you.
Switch between light and dark themes, or follow your system setting.
Search for a username first, with the pricing table right below it.
Read a single-line notice that the service runs in alpha test mode.
Use the same page layout across every public page.
Sent mail, Lightning addresses, and answers
Mail you send now comes from your own @btc.email address and is kept in a sent folder, every username can receive Lightning payments, and common questions have a home.
Send from your own @btc.email address, with replies coming back to you.
Keep a sent folder, and trust the people you write to automatically.
Receive Lightning payments at your username, like an email address for sats.
Block look-alike usernames that imitate someone else.
Get a welcome email, read the FAQ, and move around with keyboard shortcuts.
Browse btc.jobs from the command line and the terminal app.
Read the command-line guide on its own page.
A terminal app, and only true claims
BTC.email gained a full-screen terminal app, and the public pages stopped describing features that did not exist yet.
Read and send mail in a full-screen terminal app.
Accept a pending sender from the command line.
Remove claims from the homepage and about page that the product could not yet back up.
Show a friendly page when a link leads nowhere.
Email from your terminal
A command-line client arrived, so you can read, send, and manage paid mail without opening a browser.
Read, send, and accept mail from the command line, opening any message by its number.
Change your price, trusted and blocked senders, and network from the command line.
See clear notices wherever the service runs on a test network.
Lock an account after repeated failed sign-ins, and remove old data on a schedule.
Raise text contrast across the site so every page reads clearly.
One interface for every client
BTC.email gained a single programming interface that the website and terminal clients share, replacing the earlier mail app.
Sign in and list your mail through one interface that every client uses.
Retire the earlier web mail app in favor of that interface.
A full mail app, and paid mail that pays you
A full web mail app joined the service, and a sender's payment now credits your balance the moment their message arrives.
Read your mail in a full web mail app with live updates.
Credit your balance automatically when a paid message is delivered.
Fix sign-in loops and stalled logins, and return you to the page you came from.
Tighten the site's security headers and rate limits.
Live prices and safer forms
Prices now follow the live bitcoin exchange rate, and every form checks that a request really came from you.
Show prices in dollars from a live bitcoin exchange rate.
Protect every form against forged requests, and limit how fast anyone can retry.
Make email verification links work once, and explain clearly when one was already used.
Raise text contrast to meet accessibility guidelines.
A homepage that shows what is possible
The homepage started suggesting usernames as you type and showing names other people had just claimed.
Suggest available usernames as you search.
Show recently claimed usernames on the homepage.
Make registration emails more reliable, with a way to send one again.
Introduce the BTC.email brand icons.
Pay to reach an inbox
The core idea came to life: a stranger who emails you is asked to pay a small Lightning fee first, and their message reaches you once they do.
Reply automatically to an unknown sender with a Lightning invoice, and deliver the message once it is paid.
Set your own price, see it in dollars before you pay, and price attachments too.
Sign in with a Lightning wallet, with no password needed.
Prepare a switch from the test network to the main network for launch.
Manage a Bitcoin wallet from your dashboard.
Read the about page, which explains why a small payment stops spam.
Claim a username, pay with Lightning
The first working build: search for a username and claim it with a Lightning payment, on Bitcoin's test network, so no real bitcoin moved.
Search for and register a username.
Pay for a premium username with Lightning, from a payment window on the page.
Build every page from one shared design system.
Where BTC.email began
BTC.email started from an old idea: a small payment as a spam filter. These first days set out the plan for a spam-free inbox built on Lightning.
Plan an inbox where people you trust write for free and strangers pay a little to reach you.
Plan usernames, their pricing, and how new members get started.