Metal Pay

Metal Pay is a regulated cryptocurrency exchange and payments application operated by Metallicus, Inc., a licensed money services business (NMLS ID: 2057807) headquartered in the United States. The platform describes itself as "the compliant way to crypto," positioning its emphasis on regulatory adherence and institutional-grade controls as a core differentiator rather than a secondary concern. Metal Pay is available to users in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.

Background and History

Metallicus was founded in 2016 by Marshall Hayner, a veteran of the Bitcoin community who previously co-founded the peer-to-peer payment app Robocoin. From its founding, the company focused on bridging blockchain with regulated finance rather than pursuing speculative DeFi or purely permissionless protocols. Over time, Metallicus expanded from a consumer payments app into a broader digital asset banking infrastructure provider, building out a multi-chain ecosystem that includes its own blockchain networks and wallet infrastructure.

Metal Pay itself launched as the consumer-facing product for that ecosystem—an application designed to make cryptocurrency accessible in a way that satisfies U.S. money transmission licensing requirements, anti-money-laundering obligations, and Know Your Customer standards baked directly into the user experience.

How It Works

Metal Pay functions as a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp and off-ramp. Users can purchase supported cryptocurrencies using debit cards, credit cards, or linked bank accounts. The platform advertises the lowest card fees in the industry and explicitly rejects spread-based pricing models, advertising no hidden markups on quoted prices. Daily purchase limits were raised to $10,000 in the Metal Pay 3 update.

For peer-to-peer transfers, Metal Pay routes transactions through XPR Network—Metallicus's own blockchain, formerly known as Proton, rebranded in 2024. XPR Network processes over 4,000 transactions per second and supports fee-free transfers between Metal Pay users. Instead of traditional wallet addresses, XPR Network uses @name usernames, eliminating the risk of errors from long hexadecimal strings. The network also has built-in KYC identity verification at the protocol layer, meaning compliance is enforced at the infrastructure level rather than solely through the application.

The Metal Pay 3 update, which represents the current version of the app, introduced integration with Metal X, an advanced decentralized exchange built on XPR Network that supports lending, borrowing, trading, and earning features. Metal Pay now routes crypto purchases through Metal X where possible, favoring decentralized settlement over centralized exchange mechanisms. The app also added over-the-air updates, meaning new features and bug fixes are delivered without requiring users to manually update through the app store.

Customer support is integrated directly into the app interface and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through live chat.

Supported Assets

Metal Pay supports the purchase and trading of a range of assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP, Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), USDC, XPR (native token of XPR Network), Metal Dollar, and MTL (the native token of Metal Blockchain). Solana is actively promoted as one of the featured trading assets on the platform, with Metal Pay's social channels regularly highlighting SOL price movements and directing users to trade SOL through the app.

The Broader Metallicus Ecosystem

Metal Pay is one component of a multi-product ecosystem. Metal Blockchain, launched in 2022 as a fork of Avalanche, serves as Metallicus's Layer-0 infrastructure, capable of running parallel subnets processing approximately 4,500 transactions per second. Validators on Metal Blockchain stake a minimum of 2,000 METAL tokens; the native METAL token also serves governance and reward functions.

WebAuth Wallet is the ecosystem's self-custody solution. A single sign-up creates linked accounts on both XPR Network and Metal Blockchain. WebAuth Wallet uses biometric authentication—Face ID, fingerprint, and hardware keys such as YubiKey—stored in the device's secure enclave rather than on a centralized server. The wallet supports zero-gas transfers, staking, and built-in trading through Metal X DEX, along with wrapped versions of BTC, ETH, and USDC.

Metal Pay also offers a Metal Pay API—launched in September 2022—aimed at fintechs, traditional financial institutions, gaming companies, and consumer applications that want to provide cryptocurrency services to their users without building compliance infrastructure from scratch. The API covers the top 100 cryptocurrencies, transaction monitoring for compliance, and revenue-sharing arrangements through trading fees. Interested enterprises can contact Metallicus directly to integrate crypto capabilities under Metallicus's money transmission license.

Regulatory Credentials and Institutional Strategy

Metallicus achieved FedNow Service Provider certification in 2024, making it one of the first blockchain companies formally integrated with the Federal Reserve's real-time payment system. This positions Metal Pay and its API as potential infrastructure for banks and credit unions seeking to offer instant payments alongside digital asset services.

The company has followed this up with a Stablecoin Pilot Program for credit unions, launched in 2025. The program allows regulated financial institutions to test custom-branded stablecoins in a sandbox environment without using live member funds or live crypto assets. Arizona Financial Credit Union and One Nevada Credit Union joined the pilot in the final months of 2025, and in October 2025 Metallicus announced a partnership with the Cornerstone League—one of the largest U.S. regional credit union trade associations—giving Cornerstone member institutions access to the pilot. The company has also partnered with enterprise banking software providers including Fiserv, Jack Henry, and Temenos to facilitate integrations with existing core banking systems.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

Metal Pay's connection to the Solana ecosystem is primarily as a fiat on-ramp and trading venue for SOL. The platform does not run natively on Solana, nor does it use Solana as its settlement or messaging layer—that role is filled by XPR Network. However, SOL is a first-class supported asset available for purchase, trading, and zero-fee peer-to-peer transfer (via the XPR wrapped version), and the app's social communications actively promote Solana as a featured market during periods of network activity and price movement.

For Solana-based users seeking a compliant, licensed fiat gateway into SOL, Metal Pay provides a pathway that sidesteps the compliance ambiguities associated with some unregulated offshore exchanges. Its NMLS licensing, FedNow certification, and integrated KYC make it one of the few cryptocurrency platforms operating with full money-transmission compliance across its available jurisdictions.

Current Status

As of mid-2026, Metal Pay is actively maintained and operating. The team continues to ship product updates, maintain live customer support, and expand Metallicus's institutional partnerships. Q1 and Q2 2026 were characterized by continued infrastructure build-out for credit unions and regulated wallet users, with the company focused on bridging modern digital-asset tooling into existing banking rails rather than pivoting away from compliance into speculative product areas.