Metal X Review 2024
Our Take On Metal X
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Metal X is a selection of decentralized financial, crypto-based services running on the XPR Network. Built by Metallicus, the company behind the network itself, Metal Pay, and WebAuth Wallet, Metal X integrates seamlessly with the WebAuth Wallet and offers a number of financial services. This includes token swaps, trades, crypto loans, participation in pools and farms, as well as access to a fiat on-ramp. And since Metal X runs on the XPR Network, transactions are instant and gas-free.
Metal X suffers from low liquidity on some trading pairs and has a somewhat limited selection of farms from which to choose. However, their foundations are strong, and they could potentially grow into a major financial center for the blockchain space.
Pros
- No network fees
- Near instant transactions
- Many financial services all in one spot
Cons
- Must first bridge tokens to XPR network
- Low liquidity
- Limited trading pairs
Metal X Overview
| Fees | Supported Cryptocurrencies | Availability | Services |
| 0.1% Trading and swap fees; Zero network fees | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Stellar, Doge, Ripple, native XPR currencies | Available everywhere | Swaps Liquidity Pools Farms OTC trades Loans |
What Is Metal X?
Metal X is a decentralized crypto trading hub that offers a number of financial features. These features include token swaps, trades, joining pools and farms, token staking, and loans. Running on the XPR blockchain, Metal X offers near-instantaneous transactions and no additional fees for many of their services.
Unlike some other platforms, Metal X carefully curates the tokens they list, ensuring that their users are not exposed to scam tokens and other fly-by-night projects.
Metal X offers its own stablecoin token, Metal Dollar (XMD), which is backed with a vault of other non-algorithmic tokens such as USDT and USDC. Players can swap between XMD and USDT, USDC, and PYUSD at any time.
Metal X Key Features
Metal X is a feature-rich ecosystem with almost all of the financial services you will need for crypto trading. It supports a number of cryptos all in one wallet, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and more. Users can use any and all of these tokens on the Metal X platform.
Trading
Metal X includes an advanced trading platform supporting limit orders, stop loss settings, and more. This interface should be familiar to anyone who has participated in advanced trading on any other exchange.
Swaps
Metal X also supports direct swaps between XPR, USDC, XMT, METAL, BTC, and ETH. This can be quickly and easily done with the web interface or directly in the WebAuth Wallet.
Liquidity Pools
Users can add liquidity to pools for all of the supported tokens on Metal X, earning a percentage of the trading fees for that token pair. Earning percentages vary, with some pools offering better returns than others.
Fiat On-ramp
Metal X uses Metal Pay for their fiat on-ramp. This supports debit and credit cards and allows for instant deposits on the XPR network. Purchases through Metal Pay are executed using the Metal X order books, tying the ecosystem closely together.
Loans
Users can take out loans on the lending portion of Metal X, and they can also add funds to the lending pool, earning interest along the way. Interest is paid in LOAN tokens, which users can swap on Metal X or stake for additional earnings. The lending portion of Metal X is a separate app and will require an additional login to access.
OTC trades
For those who prefer trading directly with other people, Metal X also offers an OTC page, allowing two users to make a trade directly with a visual interface showing the tokens and NFTs that will be transferred by each side. This service is reserved for high-value clients on some platforms, so it’s nice to see this available for everyone on Metal X.
Streaming payments
Another interesting feature from Metal X is the option to create streaming payments, transfers to another wallet that occur on a regular basis. This could be used for loan repayments, installment plans, paying for regular services, etc. This isn’t an option that I have seen anywhere else.
No Gas Fees
There are no network fees on the XPR network. This means you never have to worry about high gas fees during times of heavy network traffic or having a gas fee eat a significant portion of earnings from a trade.
Metal X Fees
Fees on Metal X vary based on what you’re doing. Basic trades charge 0.1% of the transaction in fees. However, those with large trading volumes or a significant amount of XPR token staked can pay even less.
Loan fees are based on the interest rate at the time. There are no fees associated with adding liquidity or making OTC trades with other users.
And, since Metal X runs on the XPR network, there are no fees charged by the network itself. Transfers, for example, are completely free of charge. And while some transactions will have their own processing fees, there will never be an additional network fee on top of that.
Our Expert Review of Metal X
Metal provides a nice, centralized location for most of your crypto financial needs. It lacks a fiat off-ramp and has a relatively small selection of tokens available for trading. But, with a one-stop shop that includes swaps, advanced trading, liquidity farming, OTC trades, loans, and streaming payments, it’s hard not to be excited by the potential.
Interface
Getting my wallet set up and authorized on both my phone and through the browser seemed to involve quite a few steps. It wasn’t complicated, but I felt like I was clicking through a lot of screens to get it done. And since the Metal X ecosystem consists of a number of interconnected but separate apps, I sometimes found myself having to log in multiple times when switching between the different features.
But otherwise, the interface is easy to understand, with explanatory text pop-ups for many items. Everything ran smoothly on both desktop and mobile, with no noticeable lag.
Defi Services
Trading on the Metal X platform requires using XMD or Metal Dollars. This is the stable token for Metal X, backed by a collection of non-algorithmic stablecoins, including USDC, USDT, PAX, and others. Luckily, users can easily swap from any crypto on the platform for Metal Dollars.
Low liquidity is, unfortunately, a concern for Metal X, with some trading pairs holding less than $100 worth of value. But for someone willing to take the risk and provide that liquidity through farms, pools, and loans, there are opportunities to earn passive income while also contributing to the Metal X ecosystem.
Customer Service
Being a decentralized service, Metal X won’t have a full suite of customer service options. They do offer email support, with a quick turnaround, in my experience. In addition, they have an extensive selection of FAQs and docs to help users with questions and understanding the Metal X ecosystem. They also host a Discord server where you can look for help and answers to your questions.
Who’s Metal X For?
- High-frequency traders. Those who like to chase the best percentage rate returns should love the fee-free transactions on the XPR network. There is no charge for swapping tokens, adding liquidity, or any basic action involving moving tokens around.
- People who want all of their tokens in one wallet. If you have tokens spanning multiple blockchains, keeping track of several different wallets can quickly turn into a chore. By using WebAuth Wallet and the XPR network, users can store all of their tokens in one wallet and still have access to trading and other financial features through the Metal X ecosystem.
- Liquidity providers. Metal X suffers from a lack of liquidity on many of their swap pairs. Someone with decent-sized bags of crypto could easily make their mark by supporting the Metal X ecosystem.
Who’s it Not For?
- People who don’t want to transfer their tokens. Getting your crypto onto the XPR network to use the Metal X ecosystem will require some transfer fees for token bridging, which some people may not want to pay.
- People who frequently use their tokens for blockchain interactions. With your tokens transferred to the XPR network, they become unusable on their native chains. So, if you are regularly using your crypto for things besides trading and other financial-related features, you probably want to keep it on its native blockchain.
- Privacy focused individuals and organizations. Making any meaningful transaction on the XPR network requires passing a KYC process, which those concerned with privacy may not want to deal with.
Metal X Alternatives
Metal X is not the only financial app in the blockchain world. But they do offer a number of features all in one convenient location. Let’s match them up against a couple of the more popular crypto financial services and see how they compare.
Metal X vs. Uniswap
Uniswap is one of the oldest, and perhaps the best-known, decentralized exchanges in the crypto space. And while Uniswap and Metal X share many similarities, there are a couple of major differences.
| Supported tokens | KYC? | Centralized? | Fees | Services | |
| Metal X | Bitcoin Ethereum Litecoin Stellar | Yes | No | 0.1% trading and swap fees; Zero network fees | Swaps Liquidity Pools Farms OTC trades Loans |
| Uniswap | Any tokens on supported networks – Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, Base, Avalanche, BNB, Celo | No | No | 0.01% to 1%, with most swaps at 0.3% + network fees | Swaps Liquidity Pools |
The main difference between these two options is how you interact with the blockchain. For Metal X, you have to first bridge your tokens onto the XPR network. And while this is a little annoying, it also makes it easy to trade across multiple currencies in one location for no extra fees or hassle. With Uniswap, if you wanted to make a trade for Ethereum and then trade for BNB tokens, you would have to switch networks and pay network fees for every trade as well.
On the other hand, Uniswap doesn’t require any identity verification – yet there are rumors that Uniswap may require a KYC process in the near future as well.
In their favor, Uniswap does allow for the trading of any tokens on their supported chains, making it much more versatile for those who trade in a large variety of tokens.
Metal X vs. Nexo
While Metal X is decentralized, and Nexo is a centralized, custodial-based company, these two crypto-based apps are similar in that they let you keep tokens from multiple blockchains all in one place, allowing for quick and easy swaps, sells, trades, and loans on the platform.
| Supported tokens | KYC | Availability | Fees | Services | |
| Metal X | Bitcoin Ethereum Litecoin Stellar Ripple Dogecoin | Yes | Available everywhere | 0.1% trading and swap fees; Zero network fees | Swaps Liquidity Pools Farms OTC trades Loans |
| Nexo | Bitcoin Ethereum BNB 500+ tokens | Yes | limited in United States | 0.2% trading fees; no fees for crypto deposits or fiat purchases; network fees for withdrawals, though users can get free withdrawals by holding NEXO tokens | Buy and sell crypto Fiat on and off-ramps Loans Staking |
Nexo is a centralized exchange that supports a similar selection of tokens and services as Metal X. You will need KYC for either. Nexo has a bit of an advantage in that it offers a fiat off-ramp and also supports a much wider range of tokens. However, not all of their services are available in the United States. Also, Nexo is a custodial service, meaning that they hold your tokens for you. Metal X is decentralized, so your tokens always remain in your personal wallet until you’re ready to use them.
Is Metal X Safe to Use?
Metal X uses secondary authorization for most transactions. This can be your mobile WebAuth Wallet, MetaMask, or a device verification system such as Windows Hello.
Metal X is a decentralized service, so aside from making your crypto available for liquidity pools or loans, your tokens will always stay in your wallet and can be bridged out or transferred at any point. You can also withdraw from liquidity pools and loans with a quick transaction.
Metal X, the WebAuth Wallet, Metal Pay, and even the XPR chain are all built by the same company, Metallicus. So there is definitely a requirement to trust that they aren’t being evil. But with a fully revealed C-team, and an advisory board consisting of a former reserve bank leader, a former deputy comptroller, and a former chief compliance officer, it seems clear that Metallicus is serious about making themselves a trusted center for crypto-related financial services.
Who Founded Metal X?
Metal X is built by Metallicus, the team behind the WebAuth Wallet and the XPR network itself. The founders of Metallicus are Marshall Hayner and Glenn Mariën.
Marshall Hayner is known for his involvement in several crypto-related projects, including Stellar and the creation of the first Facebook Bitcoin wallet. He is also a board member of the Dogecoin Foundation.
Glenn Mariën is a full-stack developer who created Dogechain.info, the first online wallet for Dogecoin.
When Was Metal X Founded?
Originally built as a centralized exchange, Metal X shut down in May of 2021 and was retooled as a decentralized exchange and selection of financial services in 2022.
Where Is Metal X Headquartered?
Metallicus, creator of Metal X, was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.
Does Metal X Have Proof-Of-Reserves?
Since Metal X is a decentralized platform, all of the tokens locked into it are held by smart contracts. Every token is accounted for programmatically and managed by the smart contract until withdrawn to a personal wallet. So, there are no ‘reserves’ on Metal X because none are needed.
Final Thoughts On Metal X
Though I was a bit put off at first about having to bridge my tokens before I could use Metal X or the WebAuth wallet, I was impressed by the availability of several financial services all in one location and the ease of use of the site. The fact that there are no network fees gave me a chance to experiment with the different services without having to pay gas fees for each transaction.
Liquidity on Metal X is a little low at the moment, leading to interesting opportunities such as being able to earn interest by taking out a loan in Bitcoin! If they aren’t able to bring in enough funds to solve this liquidity issue, they may have trouble attracting additional users.
But, as a new platform, they have already hit the ground running with a slew of features, a professional yet easy-to-use interface and a potential trader’s haven with various earning opportunities and no gas fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, Metal X is a selection of decentralized financial services for crypto users. It supports cryptos from a number of different blockchains in one central location, but the service itself is decentralized.
Metal X is on the XPR network (formerly known as Proton). XPR is built specifically to facilitate financial services, offering gas-free transfers and speedy transaction times.
No. Metal X is built and maintained by Metallicus, the company behind the creation of the XPR network. Metallicus is a private company, though they are fully transparent about their team and advisory board.
XPR Network is a layer one blockchain that was formerly known as Proton Chain. After rebranding in 2020, XPR Network has built itself as a blockchain geared for heavy financial use, supporting zero-fee transfers and up to 4000 transactions per second. They have also worked on making themselves ISO2022 compliant, a requirement for any serious financial business.
