What’s up with Stepn, the latest move-to-earn crypto project?

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In Singapore, after the standard two-year conscription ends for male citizens, there’re still several rounds of reservist training cycles and a yearly fitness test, known as the individual physical proficiency test (IPPT).

One of the main components of the IPPT is a 2.4 kilometer run, something that I’ve always struggled with. While I can train myself on the other components – push-ups and sit-ups – in a more engaging way, there aren’t many ways to train my cardio other than heading to a running track.

For people like me, however, running could come with an added incentive beyond passing the annual IPPT. With move-to-earn (M2E) projects in the crypto sector, I can earn some cash on the side while training, which would go a long way toward getting me out of the house to run.

In today’s story, we break down an M2E crypto project known as Stepn and explore whether it’s here for the long run.

Today we look at:

• Whether Stepn has what it takes to become a successful M2E project
• New funds for a cancer treatment research firm
• Other newsy highlights such as a new investment fund from Huobi and JD.com entering the food delivery sector

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I like to move it move it

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Running sucks. I never get the fabled “runner’s high”, and after every session, I’m reduced to a sweaty mess. With Stepn, perhaps I could be a sweaty mess and have some additional crypto tokens to show for it. Yay… healthy lifestyle achieved.

• The very picture of health: Stepn claims to have more than 800,000 daily active users and over 3 million monthly active users, making it one of the biggest apps in the M2E space. It makes between US$3 million and US$5 million in net profit from daily trading fees and earns up to US$100 million each month.

• Getting a foot in the door: New Stepn users have to buy in-game shoes that can cost between US$100 and US$1,000. These digital shoes, which are also non-fungible tokens, come in four different types: walkers, joggers, trainers, and runners.
  Each type requires users to move within a range of speeds to be rewarded in Green Satoshi Tokens, the app’s in-game currency.

• Will the shoe fit?: While the project looks promising, it’ll have to make sure that it can survive, especially given the current crypto bear market. Investors such as Openspace Ventures also hold doubts as to whether the M2E model itself is a sustainable one.
  “I think at this point, we are not sure because no company has gotten to that level where they’ve proven it to be sustainable,” says Matt Windsor, an investment manager for Openspace.

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