The solution to the problem

deb0x protocol aims to address communication privacy & security concerns by providing a decentralized end to end encrypted email communication system.

It gives each user control over who has access to their information while it keeps their conversations private and secure.

Main characteristics of the protocol

• For end-to-end encryption, as opposed to the burden of managing PGP keys, deb0x protocol uses the built-in public key infrastructure available to any Ethereum user to send and receive encrypted messages super easy.

• Users can send and access messages without interference by third party authorities given that the transmission is realized through nodes and smart contracts on EVM compatible blockchain networks. No single entity can change, forge or delete the messages as they are safely encrypted and pinned on IPFS.

• There is no central server or cluster that manages transmission and storage of messages.

• Adopters receive token rewards for sending messages which grants them shares from future network fees. Users pay small fees per message using cryptocurrency instead of monthly subscriptions with credit/debit cards. The fees are embedded at the network level and naturally discourage spamming.

• The token distribution algorithm is preprogrammed and cannot be altered or reverted once live since there are no admin keys. There are no pre-mines, no treasury allocations, no private sales, no dev fees.

How deb0x is built

A solidity smart contract manages the transmission (record keeping) of messages, either directly or through the UI. For future reference multiple UIs can be developed that can exchange messages between them (More details can be found in Frontendsection of this lite paper)

When a user picks an address to send a message to, the public key of the recipient address is picked from the blockchain (given this address was already used for at least one transaction on a network like Ethereum). The public key is used to encrypt the messages before they are stored on IPFS.

The CID of the message is then passed as a parameter and stored by the smart contract along with the recipient Ethereum address. The sender pays the fee in the native coin of the network.

The receiver of the message queries the contract to fetch all the IPFS CID records that were sent to the address and picks a message to read. The receiver uses its wallet (e.g. Metamask) to decrypt and read the message.

The above smart contract can be deployed on an EVM compatible network. The senders pay the fee in native token. Senders receive DBX (ERC20) rewards for using the network.

The total rewards per cycle are distributed according to a negative S-curve formula - meaning rewards decrease gradually. The early cycles rewards are higher in order to incentivize adoption. All fees paid in native coins by senders are distributed proportionally among DBX holders.

Long story short? We combined smart contracts + IPFS + asymmetric encryption for utility + Bitcoin inspired incentivization in order to encourage (while eliminating all centralized storage and backend type of functionalities).