Pakistani entrepreneurs these days are making a mark in their fields at a global level these days. Be it fashion or technology related ventures, Pakistani talent is emerging and getting recognition from institutions from all over the world. Recently, a Pakistani won Coinbase’s second global Bitcoin hackathon, BitHack v2. Coinbase is a Bitcoin payment processing company which conducted its global hackathon to generate new innovations with Bitcoin technology. Amin Shah Gilani, a young entrepreneur from Lahore won this competition, receiving $10000 in bitcoin and a chance to work with Silicon Valley’s Boost VC accelerator program.
Mailman, the project that helped Amin to win this competition, was one of the 300 entries that Coinbase received. This is basically an email paywall system which allows users to reward timely email replies with Bitcoin. In case the sender doesn't receive a reply, he gets his reward back. The blockchain technology it uses also allows it to filter spam mail.
Speaking to The Nation, Amin revealed how the project wasn’t the result of an ‘inspiration’ but came from the initial reluctance of his friends Arsalan and Sulaiman to work on the project. He initially believed it would be something he could work on for one night and get done with, however, the project took much longer.
Amin’s future plans revolve around working with bitcoin technology and is the CEO at Payload which is a venture incubated at Plan9.
To try mailman out yourself, click here!