> I don't know, but tying the expansion of the email system to the reach of the US financial system seems quite limiting and archaic, and totally contrary to the international and open nature of the internet.
Email is already open and international and doesn't need bank accounts. This is paid for email solicitation, and nobody needs to do that without access to payment networks, unless perhaps they wish to conceal their true identity because they're spear-phishing.
But email solicitation is a major usage of email, and therefore any widely used protocol for managing solicitation needs to use wholly open and decentralized components to maintain email's qualities.
>>and nobody needs to do that without access to payment networks
Some people can't access a particular financial system, due to political reasons. The global financial system is not borderless.
Email is already open and international and doesn't need bank accounts. This is paid for email solicitation, and nobody needs to do that without access to payment networks, unless perhaps they wish to conceal their true identity because they're spear-phishing.