> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.metalntwx.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is Metal

> What Metal is and how its assets, privacy, policy, interoperability, and EVM compatibility fit together

Metal is an EVM-compatible blockchain for financial applications. It is
designed for programmable policy, privacy, and deterministic settlement.
Payment service providers, financial institutions, fintechs, and asset issuers
can use Metal to issue and move assets while retaining control over how
payments are approved, observed, and settled.

## Assets for financial applications

Metal assets can represent stablecoins, tokenized deposits, fund interests,
securities, commodities, and internal settlement units. MIP20 records
transparent balances, while MIP410 represents privately held value in a shared
shielded pool. MIP20 tokens can also pay transaction fees, so users do
not need a separate native gas currency.

[Learn about assets on Metal](https://docs.metalntwx.com/start/assets.md)

## Programmable payment controls

Metal provides payment-control primitives that institutions can compose into
policies for their own products and operating requirements. A MIP20 transfer
evaluates attached policies within the transaction that moves the token. A
refused transfer either reverts or places the funds in quarantine for
authorized recovery. MIP410 checks private policy proofs separately at payment
initiation and resolution.

[Learn about programmable compliance](https://docs.metalntwx.com/start/compliance.md)

## Private payments

Ordinary token transfers on a shared network reveal the asset, amount, sender,
and recipient onchain. That visibility can expose customer relationships,
treasury activity, and payment volumes that payment providers, financial
institutions, and their business customers need to keep confidential. Metal
supports shielded payments that hide those details from public observers while
preserving policy enforcement.

[Learn about private payments](https://docs.metalntwx.com/start/private-payments.md)

## Ethereum compatibility

Metal preserves the EVM development model, including Solidity contracts,
20-byte addresses, standard transaction types, and JSON-RPC. Its main
differences concern asset-based gas, zero native value, payment controls, and
deterministic finality.

[Learn what changes for Ethereum developers](https://docs.metalntwx.com/start/ethereum-compatibility.md)

## Interoperability

Metal is designed to use proofs of finalized state when coordinating activity
across chains. This allows relayers to deliver information without giving them
authority over the payment or its outcome.

[Learn about Metal interoperability](https://docs.metalntwx.com/start/interoperability.md)

## Payments by agents

Agents pay for APIs over x402 in `*USDZ`, from a key of their own or from an
account whose owner set spending limits on chain. A hosted facilitator submits
the transfer and pays the gas, and any payment can be checked on chain.

[Learn how agents pay on Metal](https://docs.metalntwx.com/agents/x402-on-metal.md)


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