Blockchain technology will change the world as we know it. Just like the internet put an end to brick and mortar bookstores, video stores, and music stores. I think blockchain and distributed ledger technologies will have an effect of the same magnitude as the internet itself. The best case scenario for blockchain will be a world without middlemen or intermediaries. A world where everything is decentralized.
The first that I think needs to be replaced is email. I needed an email address to get an account on Steemit in the first place, so this is the first thing that I think the blockchain needs to replace. There are some that think the blockchain will completely eliminate email altogether, but everybody thought that IM would eliminate email. Then people thought text messages would eliminate IM and now people think IM smartphone apps will turn around and eliminate text--all the while email is still the number one used technology in business.
There are three blockchain based email projects that I know of, but so far none of them work really work. The first is Swiftmail which claims to be backed by McAfee, the antivirus guy, but the website doesn't feel official. I don't know if is by McAfee or not, but my main concern is that the email address doesn't use the [email protected] format.
The next one is Cryptamail. I was not able to sign up for this one and the webpage says 2014 on it. The signup button doesn't do anything except reload the main page. It feels as if this project is abandoned.
The last one that I tried to use is Lemon Email. I was able to sign up for this and log in, but I was not able to send an email. I actually had to get on a chat server and ask for KETH which is a test network Etherium coin in order to sign up. I was hopeful, but it did not work.
If anybody knows of a working blockchain based email service please leave me a message in the comments.