Just recently the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent to none other than Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. The patent claims to allow Bitcoin transactions to occur through E-mail.
Source: USPTO.GOV
How it Works
Without getting too technical, this is a basic diagram of how this will work. For more detailed information on the system, you can visit the source page provided in the link above.
Since you're dealing with Coinbase, you will log in to your account if you have one with them.
If you are verified and added a bank account or credit card, you'll be able to send BTC to any Email.
After you made the transaction, the recipient will get an Email that will notify them that they have received Bitcoin. The recipient will need to have a Coinbase account to claim them. If the recipient doesn't have an account with Coinbase, the funds will remain unclaimed in what they call a "Vault".
A clever way to get new users to their platform. Something similar to how Brave setup their Tipping rewards for Website owners and publishers.
The Other End of The Double-Edged Sword
While this is a great new feature to have to help simplify using Bitcoin for the masses, those that are concerned with privacy and anonymity find that after already having to go through KYC/AML verifications and adding Email to transactions is a step closer to a "non-anymous" transactions over the Bitcoin network.
Another thing that's concerning is the "Vault" that will hold the unclaimed Bitcoins. Some believe this could lead to more centralization of the Bitcoin network.
Let me know your thoughts about this in the comments below.
Thank you for reading,
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