Breaking the Bottleneck: Moving Beyond Rigid, In-House Compliance Systems
Metal Pay’s mission to bridge DeFi and traditional finance was being hampered by a legacy, internally-built compliance system. As transaction volumes surged, the in-house tool became a bottleneck for both the engineering and compliance teams—it was difficult to update, costly to maintain, and lacked the scalability required for a fast-growing crypto platform. The risk team was buried in "clunky forms" and manual data searching, creating a high-stress environment where critical investigations could easily be forgotten or delayed. To continue their growth, Metal Pay needed to shift from a reactive mindset to a proactive, automated, and scalable preventative approach.
- Legacy System Drag: An internally built tool was hard to maintain and couldn't scale with rising crypto volumes.
- Manual Data Entry: Analysts were wasting hours searching for and inputting data into static forms.
- High Operational Stress: Lack of organized case management meant investigations were difficult to track and prioritize.
- Reactive Mindset: The team was focused on detecting fraud after it happened rather than preventing it mid-flight.
Innovation Without Engineering: Empowering Teams with Shadow Mode and No-Code Rules
Unit21 was the "no-brainer" choice for Metal Pay because it offered the flexibility to test and iterate on rules without disrupting production queues. A standout feature was "Shadow Mode" (Silent Mode), which allowed the team to run and validate new transaction monitoring rules in the background to ensure quality before going live. This eliminated the need for costly historical validation or professional services. Furthermore, Unit21's seamless integration with the Fintech Fraud DAO provided real-time, cross-platform fraud signals, allowing Metal Pay to identify if a customer had committed fraud elsewhere—information that was previously impossible to obtain quickly.
- Shadow Mode Testing: Ability to run rules in "silent mode" to validate results without flooding production queues with false positives.
- No-Code Iteration: Risk teams can adjust escalation workflows and operational procedures without engineering support.
- Consortium Intelligence: Native integration with the Fraud DAO provides real-time signals from other fintechs.
- Auto-Filled Filing: Streamlined regulatory reporting with pre-populated fields and one-click filing.
“No one has to remember about an investigation. It sits in a case, and we know we can come back to it at any point. Unit21 has provided people with a clearer process on their day-to-day role, which has improved team morale.”
Scalable Defense: Catching 3.5x More Suspicious Activity While Halving Manual Effort
Since implementing Unit21, Metal Pay has transformed its compliance department into a high-output operation. The team saw a staggering 350% increase in SAR filings, proving that they are now catching far more suspicious activity than their legacy system allowed. Despite the higher volume of reports, the burden on staff has actually decreased; each analyst now spends 50% less time on cases and filings due to automated workflows and auto-filled forms. By removing the "muscle" work and the siloing of information, Metal Pay has not only increased its productivity but also significantly improved team morale by providing a clear, organized, and stress-free process for investigations.
- Increased Detection: Reported a 350% increase in SAR filings, reflecting a much higher capture rate of financial crime.
- 50% Productivity Boost: Halved the time spent on manual case work and regulatory filing per analyst.
- Enhanced Morale: Centralized case management removed the stress of tracking investigations, leading to a more organized team.
- Preventative Success: Leveraged shared consortium data to prevent 50% more fraud compared to previous reactive models.
“Going with a legacy case management system is extremely costly, and for the most part, they are not innovating enough to keep up with the needs of fast-growing fintechs and crypto companies.”