Have you heard about the latest app the tech world is buzzing about, called Stepn? What is Stepn, you ask? Stepn is the first non fungible tokens game, powered by the Solana blockchain, revolutionizing the move to earn concept. It is a web3 lifestyle app combining AR with tokenizing everyday activities like exercise. Users can earn crypto tokens by walking, jogging or running with NFT sneakers, essentially a pair of virtual sneakers that determine how long you can train for and how much you can earn. The aim of Stepn is to motivate people around the world to get moving and exercise by rewarding them with crypto tokens.
Stepn is the first fitness app to be built on the Solana blockchain. Not only can players earn tokens while exercising but there is a game element too. Players can drop treasure boxes during their sessions.
As the first app on web3, Stepn has secured an impressive investment of almost $5 million from the likes of Solana Capital, DeFi Alliance and Morning Star Ventures - investors who share Stepn’s vision. The funding raised will go towards building an app that will inspire millions to get moving and improve their overall health while earning passive income.
What Is The Stepn Crypto App?
Stepn is a smartphone app designed by Ethereum's biggest competitor, Solana. Users can earn money for walking, jogging or running for a set time period, outdoors. The reward comes in the form of Solana’s Green Satoshi Token (or GST tokens). You would need to purchase NFT sneakers to get started, and as you upgrade your sneakers, you are eligible to earn GST. The sneakers are in fact non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and can be found on secondhand marketplaces for anything from $400 to $100 000. When you reach level 30 you can earn Stepn GMT, the governance token.
On top of all of this, Stepn is also the only mobile game to have won the Solana Hackathon.
And who created Stepn, you might ask? This project is the brainchild of Find Satoshi Lab, which was co-founded in 2021 by Australian duo Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong.
What is Move-to-Earn (M2E)?
Move-to-earn apps empower users to make a passive income by simply engaging in daily exercise such as walking, jogging and running. The gamification of move-to-earn works in a similar fashion to play to earn games, with full control over in-game assets and the option to convert tokens to cryptocurrency or fiat currency. It gives new meaning to the term “investing in your health!”
This model essentially tokenizes the acts of walking, jogging and running so instead of a useless achievement badge you’d receive in existing fitness tracker apps, you are rewarded with a Stepn coin (GST tokens). Stepn is the first of its kind to tokenize and reward physical activity with cryptocurrency.
How Does Stepn Work?
Stepn works on a move to earn model. To use the app, you will need to download it from the app store onto your smartphone. You are then required to sign up using your email address. After email verification is complete, connect your crypto wallet to continue. You will then be required to purchase sneakers, which are in actual fact NFTs, by depositing Solana’s native token - SOL - into Stepn’s in-app wallet. The sneakers energy is replenished every 24 hours, which in turn dictates the number of minutes a user may exercise for.
You may select features for your sneakers which include comfort, resilience, luck and efficiency, which contribute to your NFT sneakers energy cap. Energy is the time measurement. One unit of energy equates to 5 minutes of time allocated to exercising. When you start, you are allotted a measly two units which replenish every 24 hours. That means as a newcomer you only have 10 minutes per day to earn GST.
The team behind this app have ensured users cannot trick or cheat the system by walking on the spot or on a treadmill. The app tracks movement via your smartphone’s GPS so if you engage in stationery walking you will not earn tokens.
Also worth keeping in mind if you have an Apple phone is that even when the app is turned off, the Background Mode can still pull the step count directly from your mobile device's Health Data.
NFT Sneakers?
To play Stepn and join the craze, you first need to purchase NFT sneakers - essentially virtual sneakers that determine how much GST you can earn. As soon as your sneaker is ready, you can start earning GST utility token rewards. When it comes to purchasing NFT sneakers, you can make them exactly how you want them.
Attributes
There are 5 NFT sneaker attributes, the most important one being Energy. As we touched on above, your sneaker’s energy attribute directly impacts on the amount of time you are allowed to earn GST tokens everyday. Resilience slows down sneaker wear and tear; Luck upps your odds of winning random prizes during your session; Comfort increases the intake of the Green Metaverse Token (GMT token) and efficiency increases the amount of GST earned in a session.
Types
You can select from four types of sneakers: walker, jogger, trainer and runner. It is important to consider your fitness level when selecting your sneaker type. Selecting a sneaker that requires high speeds that you cannot keep up with will limit your earning potential.
Each type determines the speed you must move in order to earn GST. With walkers, you must walk at a speed of 1 to 6km per hour, earning 4 GST with every energy unit spent. Joggers require you to move at a speed of 4 to 10km per hour with an earning potential of 5 GST per energy unit.
If you opt for runners, you will need to move 8 to 20km per hour with an earning potential of 6 GST. If you cannot maintain this speed, you will not earn well. Trainers require you to walk at a speed of 1 to 20km per hour with earnings of between 4 and 6 GST.
Quality
You can also select NFT sneakers based on their rarity. There are five qualities: common sneakers, uncommon sneakers, rare sneakers, epic sneakers and legendary sneakers. Common sneakers are the cheapest starting at around 22 SOL but their earning potential is less.
Level
Each sneaker is allocated 30 level-ups which you can do as needed. Each time you level up, you earn attribute points to distribute between your sneaker attributes. As you increase attribute levels, your earning potential goes up and your energy cap increases.
Customization
You can customize your sneakers in Stepn by breeding or minting two sneakers to create a hybrid sneaker. You can do this when you reach level 5 and only if you own the parent sneakers (i.e. you cannot lease sneakers and then mint them). Level 30 allows for further customizations which could in the near future include branded customizations. Stepn is in talks with big brands to introduce branded NFT sneakers to the app.
Stepn Tokenomics
There are a number of cryptocurrency tokens associated with the app you may not be familiar with. Here’s the rundown on the two tokens you’ll need to get on board with to become a user of the Stepn app.
Solana (SOL)
Solana’s native token is the SOL. This is the coin used to purchase new sneakers in the app. You will need to purchase SOL using your in-app wallet in order to use the coins to purchase sneakers, which start at 20 SOL.
Green Satoshi Token (GST)
GST tokens are earned by walking, jogging or running for an allotted time period per day, determined by your sneakers energy cap. You can use GST to upgrade or repair your sneakers. So to recap, the GMT token can be used to:
- Upgrade sneakers
- Repair sneakers
- Mint sneakers
- Unlock sockets
- Upgrade gems
Green Metaverse Token (GMT)
GMT tokens are the governance token of Stepn. They can be used to change your sneaker’s name or used to vote on important matters that impact Stepn's future. They can also be used to access premium content and locked activities. Benefits of holding GMT tokens include:
- Improves your chances of winning extra sneakers when minting sneakers
- Aids you in reaching levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30
- Improves success of gem upgrades after level 4
- Assist you with minting rare, epic and legendary sneakers
- Improves your chances of winning rare NFT sneakers
- Allows you to redistribute attribute points
- Covers your sneaker customization fees
Summing it all up, GST has an unlimited supply, while GMT's are minted at the Token Generation Event and their supply is capped at 6 billion, and is only awarded to users who have upgraded their sneakers past level 30.
Stepn Team: Who’s Behind It?
The Stepn team is the same team behind the Australian fintech company, FindSatoshi Lab. They came 1st in the 2021 Solana Ignition Hackathon Gaming Track, earning them the popularity and confidence to build Stepn on the Solana blockchain.
How To Earn With Stepn?
There are three user modes when playing on the Stepn app. The only requirement to begin is the NFT sneaker.
Solo Mode
When in solo mode, you can get moving “wearing” your NFT sneakers to begin earning GST tokens. You will need energy to get more tokens which replenish every 24 hours. If you do not have any energy units, you cannot earn GST, so always check the energy level before getting active. It is also important to have a strong GPS signal on your device so the Stepn app can track your speed and movements.
Marathon Mode
Stepn holds weekly and monthly marathons, which you can participate in. To do so you must register under the marathon tab at least 24 hours before the marathon commences. You can select a 2.5km, 5km or 7.5km weekly marathon (keep in mind, you can only participate in one of these).
Monthly marathons are either 5km, 10km or 15km routes and once again, you may only participate in one. Be sure to do any sneaker repairs before the marathons as they cannot be repaired during a marathon.
Background Mode
If you have one pair of NFT sneakers in your inventory, you can earn in offline mode and not have to pay for repair charges. Your step count is collected directly from your phone’s health data while the Stepn app is offline so your sneaker endurance is not impacted.
Getting Started With Stepn
To get started and buy Stepn GMT, you need to find an exchange that supports Stepn’s governance token. Coinbase does not support GMT utility tokens just yet whereas Binance, KuCoin and PancakeSwap do. To purchase Stepn GMT using your credit or debit card, you will need to do this through Binance.
Here’s how to do it:
- Create an account on Binance (or any of the other compatible exchanges).
- Verify your account. When using a debit or credit card to purchase GMT tokens, you will need to complete a Know Your Customer process.
- Add your debit or credit card details to your account
- Search for Stepn cryptocurrency and buy Stepn GMT
Bottom Line
Stepn blends two worlds into one - Augmented Reality and Play to Earn by creating a move to earn app, the first of its kind. Stepn saw massive success with its official launch in March of 2022 but hit a stumbling block with the downturn of the crypto market when China banned the use of apps tracking GPS. As a result, Stepn had to ban Chinese users.
As data protection laws continue to be beefed up across the globe, Stepn will have to navigate these challenges and win the trust of lawmakers. They have also faced a number of DDOS attacks since launching which has resulted in downtime for users, always frustrating when using an app.
If Stepn can overcome these teething issues, the move to earn model could become a part of everyday life in the future, encouraging millions of people all over the world to get moving.
In the future it is very possible that the metaverse will continue to tokenize everyday activities and incentivise people to perform all sorts of everyday tasks. Incentivizing fitness is only the beginning, but starting in this niche couldn’t make more sense. Who wouldn’t want to earn money while getting fitter?