I was already late in my prediction last week when I said we could expect more projects using the principles of the ‘play-to-earn’ concept – they are already here!

While scrolling Twitter this week, I came across an app called StepN – that essentially pays you for walking, jogging, or running outdoors.

The app recently raised a $5m seed round this January, has +74k daily active users, and it’s growing fast.

I went down the rabbit hole for +3 hours to learn about it and distilled all you need to know in this 3-minute email.

StepN

Our mission at StepN is to inspire millions to a healthier lifestyle, connect them to Web3 and combat climate change

StepN is a game built on the Solana blockchain that rewards you with virtual tokens that you can only achieve through real-life activities.

The project uses two tokens – the Green Satoshi Tokens (GST) and the Governance Tokens (GMT) – to reward its users.

Users get GST for moving, walking, jogging, or running. There’s an unlimited supply of GST, and you can use it to mint, repair, or level up your shoe, amongst other upgrades and unlocks.

Users can also open loot boxes (i.e., prizes), mint sneakers, and win different NFTs as they progress throughout different achievements of the game.

To play, you first need to buy a sneaker NFT (that costs ~ $1000), for which you’ll receive a virtual sneaker with four randomized attributes;

• Efficiency

• Luck

• Comfort

• Resilience

The different attributes influence your sneakers’ earning potential, durability, efficiency, and frequency/quality of loot (prize) drops.

By the time of the writing, GST is worth $4.85 in the marketplace – meaning you’d need to earn ~206 GST to cover the cost of the virtual sneakers.

Revenues vary, but one Redditor claimed he earned 40 USD on a 20 min walk. There’s also a calculator for how much you’d need to walk with your specific shoe’s attributes to earn GST.

Game Dynamics

StepN leverages technology to digitalize, gamify, and promote a real-life activity.

They use machine learning to determine user behavior and develop anti-cheating mechanisms. The founder claims they spend about half of their time solving cheating behavior.

The app has a marketplace where users can rent, sell and buy NFT Sneakers, Badges, and Gems.

StepN’s business model relies on certain fees from in-app activities, such as NFT trading, Shoe-minting, and Shoe-rental.

Individual users own all assets in the StepN app, and users make most earnings in-app.

The Disruption

In contrast to play-to-earn, where games reward players for achieving something virtually – move-to-earn rewards offline behavior.

It essentially changes how we think about incentives.

So far, we’ve known traditional gym memberships, connected fitness, or social fitness. However, none offer immediate incentives for usage. StepN rewards you every time you move.

What could be a better motive to work out and live an active lifestyle than to get paid for doing it?!

Looking Forward

The global fitness industry is worth over $87 billion.

As an early bird, StepN is here to prove the concept, develop best practices, and figure out how to prevent cheating and other problems in the system.

Nevertheless, if proven effective, move-to-earn may get a significant share of that market in the next few years.

We’re only in the beginning. But as you read this, more projects are taking off at the intersection of fitness and web3, so it’s worth keeping a close eye on this disruptive concept.

Learn more:

1. web3 x Fitness by Fitt Insider

2. Why are we building a fitness app on the blockchain? – why does StepN think this project will scale?

3. StepN: Move-to-Earn without the Ponzi – by Huobi Research

🎙 Halftime Snacks Podcast

SportsPro Media and the Digital Transformation of Sports

Nick – the CEO of SportsPro Media – joined me on this week’s Halftime Snack!

SportsPro is the premier publisher, advisory, and events business driving the digital transformation of global sports.

In this conversation, we dove into Nick’s story and relationship with sports, discussed content-as-a-strategy on the attention economy, and learned about the digital transformation of sports and its impact on SportsPro and media.

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Apply to be a guest on the Halftime Snacks Podcast here.