Metal (MTL)
Metal Pay is a company that is trying to become a global payments facilitator. They use a coin called Metal as the native currency for their ecosystem. They have an interesting goal: To be able to transfer money instantly around the globe with nothing more than a phone number.
Mining/Staking
The total supply of Metal coins is 66.5 million coins. The consensus mechanism for this ecosystem is based upon Proof of Processed Payments (PoPP), and rewards. When you send money or make purchases, you earn a portion of Metal coins for each transaction, based upon the size of the transaction.
Development Team
The development team for this project is actually quite impressive. The co-founders include Marshall Hayner (QuickCoin, Stellar, Trees) and Glenn Marien (Fenego, Dogechain). Additional team members include talent with backgrounds at Visa, Amex, Apple, and Swipe, and an Advisory Board with talent who have backgrounds at BitTorrent, Purse, Civic, and more. Eric Vorhees (Bitcoin, Gateway) is a well known investor.
Criticisms, Caveats, and Competitors
Metal's biggest challenge will probably be successful integration with fiat and the entrenched global banking system.
Additional Resources
The project's main website: https://www.metalpay.com
Link to Wikipedia Page: N/A
Link to Reddit Community: https://www.reddit.com/r/Metal
Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/metalpaysme
Link to Team information: https://www.metalpay.com/#team (and scroll down)
Link to data on Live Coin Watch: https://www.livecoinwatch.com/coins/MTL
Whitepaper: https://www.metalpay.com/assets/pdf/whitepaper.pdf