What is MailGate ?
A one-page explanation of pay-to-send, on-chain identity, and encrypted storage.
MailGate is an email service with three ideas that ordinary email doesn't have.
1. Your inbox is yours on-chain
With Gmail or Outlook, your account is a record in a company's database. They can suspend it, lock you out, or read it.
With MailGate, your account is an object on the Sui blockchain. It belongs to you. No company can deplatform you from it, and the account keeps existing independently of any one server.
You still get a normal-looking address (for example you@mailgate.sh) and a normal inbox. The blockchain part runs quietly underneath.
2. Your mail is end-to-end encrypted
Every message body sent between MailGate users is encrypted so that only the recipient can read it — not the servers, not the company, not anyone who compromises a database.
This is done with a technology called Seal. There is no single party that holds a key able to read your mail. The keys live inside a sealed, tamper-evident secure environment (a TEE / enclave) whose integrity is checked by the blockchain itself.
Mail you send to a regular address (like a @gmail.com recipient) is delivered over standard encrypted transport (TLS), the same as any email provider — but it is not end-to-end encrypted, because the other side isn't on MailGate. End-to-end encryption applies between MailGate users.
3. Senders pay a toll
Spam works because sending email is free. MailGate changes that.
When someone who isn't on your approved list emails you, they're asked to pay a small toll before the message reaches your inbox. You set the price. People you've approved (your contacts / whitelist) skip the toll entirely.
- Real people who actually want to reach you will pay a few cents.
- Mass spammers, for whom "free" was the entire business model, won't.
- The toll money accrues to your balance — you're paid for your attention.
Read more in How pay-to-send works.
What you don't have to deal with
- No gas fees. Blockchain actions normally cost a "gas" fee. MailGate sponsors all of yours — you never need to hold or spend crypto just to use email.
- No seed phrases (if you don't want them). You can sign up with just an email and password. A wallet is optional.
- No crypto knowledge required. If you can use Gmail, you can use MailGate.