Coinbase CEO Armstrong Wins Patent for Tech Allowing Users to Email Bitcoin

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has been granted a U.S. patent for an invention that makes sending bitcoin as easy as email, literally.

The patent, granted on Tuesday and filed in March 2015, details a system for users to make cryptocurrency payments with email addresses linked to corresponding wallet addresses. The sender makes a request to send cryptocurrency to an email address, and the system automatically transmits the agreed amount – so long as they have the required balance – from the sender’s wallet to the wallet corresponding to the receiver’s email address.

The system takes 48 hours for the transaction to clear, once the receiver has confirmed the payment. Cryptocurrencies not in use would be stored in a secure vault that can only be accessed by the email address linked to the corresponding wallet.

While Coinbase has made more than $2 billion in transaction fees since 2012, the proposed email system will not charge users fees. According to the patent, mining fees will be…