Metal Up Your Assets



Why Metal Stands Out in a Crowded Field and Should Be an Addition to Your Crypto Portfolio In our search for cryptoassets that might survive the inevitable culling that will come in the next several years, we are forced to look for coins that can balance the needs of an actual business along with the vision that must drive a successful crypto project. Far too often the dream vision is there, but the actual business prospect isn't.



Along comes Metal.



They have all the bells, whistles, and taglines that come with the crypto dream - 'Send payments to friends and family with a click. Transfer money instantly around the globe with nothing more than a phone number. Lightning clearance time on every transaction.' Sounds great.



On the surface, Metal is a blockchain-based payment platform with all those excellent features. But, lots of coins make similar claims, right? And this puts them in competition with some mainstream powerhouses of payment processing - Paypal, Venmo, Stripe, Square. Not to mention other crypto projects like TenX with their ability to make mobile credit/debit card-based payments. So, they'll have some work to do.



Look under the hood and behind the scenes, however, and you'll see a unique plan and some great extras. For example, Metal is already (as of October 30th) a multi-token wallet, with plans to expand the tokens it's capable of holding and using in the platform. And it's barely mentioned in passing that, with the ability to link to your bank account or credit/debit card, the Metal platform is actually a gateway to crypto, in a way that Coinbase is often seen. In any other project, these two features alone would be standouts, but these are not even their primary focus.



A fundamental feature of the platform is to reward users, both merchants and consumers. MTL is distributed as a reward by way of the unique Proof of Processed Payments (PoPP) that functions using the Ethereum blockchain. Whenever you send money or make a purchase, you earn a 5% reward in MTL for every dollar spent. This incentivizes the use of the platform.



Now, creating a payment platform for everyone and incentivizing them to use it is great. But it's also pie in the sky unless you have a plan to get them there. This is where Metal shines. They're not just launching the platform and expecting the world to start using it for some bonus MTL. They have some very specific target markets in underbanked industries - Cannabis, Adult Entertainment, Nutraceuticals, E-Sports and others.

Before Marshall Hayner was CEO of MetalPay, he was CEO of Trees, a company in the Cannabis industry in California. It's an industry he knows well. Metal already has more than 140 merchants in the Cannabis industry lined up to participate in the platform. That represents $200 million per year in payment processing. With Metal's sights on other underbanked and cash-based businesses, such as bars, restaurants, and the massively growing gig economy, they have lots of potential customers.



Metal solves a problem. It helps merchants get payment solutions, and rewards both merchants and users in the process. Metal's target markets are legal businesses, but can't get banking services because the mainstream banks and service providers don't want to work with them. The Paypals of the world don't want to be seen as peddling pot and porn. Metal doesn't care. They see an opportunity here. They're doing business in the gap and that's just plain smart.



Crypto is in a strange place right now. It's a disruptive technology that seeks to differentiate itself from old-world economics. But, in order to go mainstream, crypto needs to embrace a few old-world conventions. Metal gets this. They take fraud, KYC and AML seriously. It's another one of the taglines on their website - 'Serious - Zero compromise on compliance.' They only work with legally compliant businesses. Because the platform can link to your bank account or credit/debit card, they face some heavy regulation. They're prepared for that. They're even planning on offering FDIC-insured accounts for the fiat in your Metal wallet. That is serious.



I mentioned TenX as a competitor to Metal earlier. Well, TenX pays out its 0.5% transaction fees as a reward to its token holders. That makes the TenX token a security and vulnerable to US SEC regulations when they inevitably weigh in on cryptos. MTL doesn't have that problem. They've already thought that through. These guys are compliance hawks and shouldn't have any regulatory problems going forward.

They have a diverse and experienced team, along with some heavy hitters to back them up. Erik Voorhees (CEO of Shapeshift) is an investor, and Vinny Lingham (co-founder of Civic) and Bram Cohen (creator of BitTorrent) are advisors. The team has been active in social media, with CEO Hayner being accessible, responsive, and vocal in promoting the project.







No startup is perfect, of course, and there have been some shortcomings. There were criticisms of the whitepaper, and some elements of their roadmap are unclear. Let's not forget that major parts of the platform haven't been developed or made public yet. And MTL's price has come down quite a bit from its post-release high. Early investors have just sold some off, pushing the already cooling price further downward. But with the focus on BTC's run to all-time-highs, just about every other crypto is on a downtrend.

That price drop isn't a problem - it's an opportunity. These factors present a good entry point for those looking at MTL longer term. And the price movement won't affect Metal Pay's ability to roll out their products, either. They have a full two years of operating cash on hand. That's plenty of time and money for what they need to do.



Keep in mind that Metal opted not to raise money in an over-hyped ICO, but rather raised only what they needed to develop the platform in the immediate future. This shows tighter control of their finances and forward thinking. That's that balance between their vision and the needs of their business. Give this one a couple of years to play out. If Metal comes together as planned, it could be a major player and you could see major profits.