Metallicus, the startup behind the peer-to-peer payments platform Metal Pay, received an undisclosed angel investment from the youngest bitcoin millionaire, Erik Finman.
In partnership with Metal Pay CEO Marshall Hayner, the two look to
develop the first “all-in-one” cryptocurrency banking platform, which
includes a 17 digital asset exchange, a digital bank and a payments
application with social features similar to Venmo.
Founded in September, Metal Pay has processed approximately $11
million in total payments from nearly 130,000 registered users across 38
states. On a monthly basis, the company processes $1 million in crypto
or fiat for around 30,000 active users, according to Hayner.
Finman staked a modest amount of bitcoin to finance the development
of the banking and exchange ecosystem, he said, which currently holds
approximately $2 million in crypto and fiat on the platform. Though
Finman is willing to put in his entire “400 something” bitcoin fortune
to fund Metal Pay’s growth, the 20 year old told CoinDesk.
“We’re looking to beat bitcoin,” Finman said.
“I’ve been a bit back and forth in the past (‘crypto is dead’/
‘resurrect Bitcoin’) but have found in recent months, especially, that
the bitcoin community is super fragmented. And the actual usability for
bitcoin is minimal,” Finman said.
This project is an attempt to move beyond the siloed developments
within the crypto industry and become a usable financial tool, he said.
Hayner agrees, and said crypto has grown to mirror “the existing
financial industry,” rather than the open-source community where he
found his footing in “the days when you could still mine BTC on a
MacBook.”
Before Metal’s founding in 2016, Hayner helped build Stellar, Dogecoin and Block.io. The company previously received $3 million in funding from G2 Ventures, Gateway and Shapeshift CEO Erik Voorhees.
Crypto meets conventional
The two took a “crypto-agnostic” approach when building the system and have worked actively with regulators.
Metal Pay is partnered with Arkansas-based Evolve Bank and Trust to
provide FDIC insured deposit accounts. As the platform develops, Evolve
will help Metal Pay introduce a number of financial products associated
with conventional banking services.
In 2018, Hayner also developed a proof of processed payment as a
means of distributing MTL tokens native to the platform. The proof
reaches consensus and validates transactions conducted on Metal Pay.
Instead of a mining reward, however, the counterparties receive up to
5 percent of the transaction volume in MTL, which, “for consumers, is
construed as cash back,” said Hayner. These rewards, called Pop can be
converted into fiat, sent to another Metal Pay user, or held as an
investment.
MTL holders are rewarded in additional ways. For instance, those that
“hold over 10,000 MTL on an average spot price between Binance, Kraken
and Bittrex,” will not be charged fees. Further, Hayner said the company
intends to offer free trading on MTL specific pairs and fee-less
options for merchants following the introduction of Metal Merchant.
Metal Pay looks to gain market validation in a crowded field of
payment apps like Venmo and Cash App. Hayner recognizes the difficulty
in attracting non-crypto users, and is working to build an application
that passes industry muster first.
He said:
“Bitcoin is flawed, but only in the way the Ford Model T
was flawed, the concept of a car will live on and constantly be improved
upon, hopefully it builds upon the existing model and there is always
room for Ford, Toyota, Mazda, BMW, Tesla even!”
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