Funding Round Overview
Metal, a tokenized financial product settlement network, has completed its seed funding round led by Airwallex and Capital49. The exact amount raised has not been disclosed. As part of the investment agreement, Airwallex has joined Metal as its first Design Partner, a role that involves close collaboration on product development and testing.
Investor Background and Contrasting Views
Airwallex is a global enterprise payment and financial platform specializing in cross-border transactions. Its founder, Jack Zhang, attracted attention in June 2025 when he posted on X (formerly Twitter) questioning the utility of stablecoins in reducing foreign exchange costs. Zhang wrote: “Investors keep asking me about stablecoins and how they lower forex fees. If you send USD to EUR and the recipient still needs to receive EUR in their bank, I see no way stablecoins reduce fees — the conversion from stablecoin to the destination currency costs far more than the interbank forex market. Crypto is a space I never understood. In 15 years, I still haven’t seen a single use case for crypto technology.” Despite these public doubts, Airwallex's decision to lead Metal's seed round and serve as a Design Partner signals a nuanced interest in tokenized settlement infrastructure. It also highlights a broader industry debate over whether stablecoins and tokenized financial products can deliver meaningful cost savings in real-world payment flows. Metal aims to build a settlement layer for tokenized real-world assets, and the partnership with Airwallex could provide key insights into the practical integration of on-chain and off-chain payment systems.