What is Metronome? $MET

Metronome is a digital currency that can be moved seamlessly across decentralized platforms.

When Bitcoin came, it was stuck in an enclosed decentralized platform. However, that wasn’t an issue considering that it was the only coin in the market. But, when Ethereum and many other blockchains and cryptocurrencies were born, they exposed their rigidity in interacting with other distributed networks. 

A solution was later found in decentralized platforms enabling cross-chain interactions.

Unfortunately, this was not enough. Although information could be moved across distributed networks, it was still hard to seamlessly move platform-native currencies between these systems. To cater to this end, Metronome was created.

Background

Metronome’s team consists of a group of professionals. On the top are Jeff Garik (chief designer and co-founder), Matthew Roszak (co-founder), Jordan Kruger (Managing director), and Manoj Patidar (principal engineer).

Apart from the team, the project has support from strategic partners such as Jaxx, Delta Strategy Group, and Perkinscoie. Also, New Alchemy, Zeppelin, and Smith+Crown are part of the major strategic advisors. 

What is Metronome?

Metronome is a virtual currency that can be moved seamlessly across decentralized platforms. The coin was born out of the need to bring a virtual asset that has institutional-class functionalities. Metronome’s key aspects revolved around self-governance, portability, and reliability. 

The self-governance part addresses the need for a decentralized community-based governance system. On the other hand, the crypto is portable enough to hop from one blockchain to another without losing value, stability, or requiring extra management. The reliability aspect ensures Metronome’s steady crypto supply.

Notably, the cryptocurrency seeks to provide a consistent store of value without being locked down by a single blockchain platform. Although other projects have tried enacting cross-chain interoperability, there’s still an area that’s hard to crack: subscriptions.

In the blockchain space, it’s hard to achieve a scenario where crypto can be natively set for recurring automatic payments. Fortunately, Metronome users can comfortably and securely enable subscriptions and/or recurring payments. By supporting multiple blockchains, Metronome’s use cases are diverse.

However, the most prominent include storing value across platforms powered by distributed ledger technology (DLT). Additionally, apart from subscriptions, the digital asset can be used for mass payments. Here, Metronome users can send cryptos to multiple wallets with a press of a button. 

Metronome Coin (MET)

Metronome (MET) was launched with a supply of 10 million tokens. Only 8 million tokens were released during the launch, with the team retaining 2 million or 2 percent of the launch supply. Interestingly, its price decreases with time.

For example, during launch, a single MET coin’s price stood at 2 ETH on the higher side and 0.0000033 ETH on the lower side. Note that Metronome’s use of a depreciating price auction is meant to provide clear and predictable pricing.

Critical Components of the Metronome Platform

Four smart contracts guide the functioning of Metronome. They include,

• Ledger ERC20 Contract: This contract defines MET’s behavior across blockchains. Also, it holds the key to automatic and mass payments. The Metronome Ledger ERC20 contract assures the token’s security.
• Auctions Contract: As the name suggests, the contract is tied to the token’s pricing, including the depreciating price feature. Its functions include defining the rules that govern the crypto’s 24-hour supply lot and the token’s supply. Additionally, it facilitates sending ETH to the Proceeds Contract.

• Proceeds Contract: It’s one of two contracts forming the autonomous Proceeds Provider. This ensures 0.25 percent of the accumulated balance on the system has been sent to the autonomous converter contract on a 24-hour basis.
• Autonomous Converter Contract: It powers the exchange of ETH for MET and vice versa. Note that this is the second part of the autonomous proceeds provider.

Apart from the critical components, the Metronome ecosystem consists of other equally important features. They include a chainhop and a validator.

Chainhop is Metronome’s way to move one MET token from one decentralized platform to another. This approach is different from other projects working to achieve sending assets over multiple distributed networks. For instance, Metronome only manages one coin, MET, while other systems use a token swap. Note that a token swap leads to managing multiple cryptocurrencies.

On the other hand, a validator is a known entity that runs off-chain software on decentralized nodes. Their essential function is to facilitate the movement of funds between distributed networks. Also, Metronome validators vote on the validity of an event. At the time of writing, known validators on the Metronome ecosystem include ETC Labs, Bloq Inc, The Qtum team, Veriblock, and Spacechain.

Although the validators are few, Metronome ensures the system’s security by employing a phased addition of features during its inter-chain roll out.

Phased Cross-chain Roll Out

Phase One

This phase introduces a federated network of validators. The validators reach a consensus on an event’s validity by working as a team and using a multi-signature approach. These validators also guide the Metronome family on which chain to follow in case of a hard fork.

Phase Two 

Phase two weakens the role of validators by introducing chain attestors. Also, it brings in stake weighting. Stake weighting helps the community to choose which path to follow in case of a hard fork.

Phase Three

This is the last phase, and it enhances Metronome’s decentralization. Notably, decentralization at this stage is inspired by that of Bitcoin (BTC). It consists of nodes, a blockchain, blocks, and consensus protocol.

Metronome Integrations and Listings

Metronome has developed a native wallet for iOS and Android-powered devices. However, apart from storing MET on its native wallet, other wallets have provided MET integrations.

For example, Edge Wallet, a secure cryptocurrency software storage, has integrated MET support. Beyond wallets, MET is integrated with CoinPayments, a crypto payments processor. As such, MET is exposed to shoppers and merchants in 182 countries across the globe.

Apart from wallet integrations, the crypto has been listed on major digital currency exchanges. On ProBit, for instance, MET is paired with USDT, while on Bittrex Global, it’s paired with ETH. Notably, the MET/ETH trading pair on Bittrex Global is the second MET-specific pair since the coin already has a MET/BTC pair.

How Metronome Fits in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Puzzle

Despite Metronome being born in 2018 and before the DeFi boom, it had the future in its core. The digital currency fits in the DeFi puzzle by facilitating enhanced blockchain-based payments. In addition, it features a decentralized exchange (DEX) in the form of an autonomous converter contract that allows a seamless exchange of blockchain assets.

Another popular aspect of DeFi is the total value locked (TVL), which shows how much a DeFi protocol has accumulated. On Metronome, this is represented by the proceeds and the autonomous converter contract.

To this end, trading MET is active in the Balancer pool. Therefore, liquidity providers can effectively interact with the pool. Interestingly, more than earning a section of the pool’s trading fee, providing liquidity in MET also earns the pool’s token, BAL.

Conclusion

In a world where more businesses are embracing cryptocurrencies, bulk payments, subscriptions, and automated payments are a vital component. In this light, Metronome’s focus on these key values makes the platform ready to drive the future of crypto-based services.

Furthermore, being easily transferable between blockchain platforms powers, among other sectors, the DeFi space. But even beyond that, its availability on leading crypto exchanges and being integrated with CoinPayments opens the token to more users. Consequently, it adds value to the crypto ecosystem and its investors with its innovative cross-chain transfer capabilities.