B1txr is the name of the new service that allows Bitcoin users to use a cryptocurrency address to securely receive their emails, without a having to provide their real email address. All you have to do to is go to the service’s site and enter your Bitcoin address to create your new “email inbox”.
Although this is not the first or the only way to encrypt your email, the usual GPG/PGP encryption requires both sender and receiver to be using the same software, something that doesn’t happen all the time. And the same happens with Bitmessage.
That’s why B1txr is different and simpler, allowing users to privately receive emails. The website receives your emails and stores them for you. The safety of the service is guaranteed by asymmetric encryption: when you login, you’re required to prove that you own that specific Bitcoin address by signing a string of text provided by B1txr.
For now, B1txr – which is still being tested and has a limited storage capacity – announces that 97 emails were already received at 75 addresses. Since the project is still in the beginning, there’s no way to send emails from the service for now, but the future might bring new developments.
I think you are confused about the purpose of this tool.
> Although this is not the first or the only way to encrypt your email,…
It does not encrypt your email. Any email sent to an address using this site are sent and stored and read in an unencrypted fashion. So unless you are using GPG/PGP or another tool, there is no encryption.
What this tool DOES do is provide you with an instant email address associated with any bitcoin address that you own. You don’t need to pre-register to set up a password. Sort of like Mailinator, only you are the only person who is able to read the emails via the service; you automatically have it “password protected” since only you know the private key.
But of course, that doesn’t stop others from being able to view the message in transport, and it doesn’t stop the owners of this site from accessing your emails or turning over the emails to law enforcement. The mail itself is not encrypted (unless another tool is used).
This also provides some level of anonymity, although anyone using it for sketchy communications that you want to protect from law enforcement should use encryption and probably TOR to access the site, as logs can track your IP address to your bitcoin address with this site.