Can you earn $1,000 by walking for a day? Web3's "walk and earn game" becomes popular, and some people spend $300,000 to buy virtual shoes

Can you make money by walking or running these days?

The recently popular Web3 chain game STEPN became popular with this slogan.

Simply put, this is a "Move to Earn" game based on the public blockchain platform Solana. After users register and purchase sports shoes NFT, they can make money by running. How much they earn depends on whether they stick to exercise, the level, attributes, and quantity of NFT sports shoes, etc.

If you want to make money, you have to run. If you want to run, you have to buy shoes first. On the evening of April 2, the floor price of buying a pair of entry-level NFT sneakers in this game was 8.4 SOL coins (tokens of the Solana ecosystem), which is equivalent to about RMB 7,500. The floor price of NFT sneakers will change with the rise and fall of SOL coins. Some players said that the price of entry-level NFT sneakers converted into RMB is basically in a relatively stable range.

Such an expensive pair of shoes has kept many ordinary users out. But because there is money to be made, veteran players in the crypto circle and running and fitness enthusiasts have flocked to STEPN. In order to "run and make money", some people even run every day regardless of bad weather, even in heavy rain and snow. As for the income, a high-level player who entered the market earlier told Shenran that his daily income in STEPN in early April could reach about US$1,000. However, it is hard to say how long the income can last.

Following the popularity of the Metaverse concept, Web3.0 has become a new round of eye-catching concepts. Compared with Web1.0, which can only read information, and Web2.0, which can read and write information, Web3.0, in addition to being able to read and write, is also about achieving decentralization and returning data ownership to the user. Its concept is still unfamiliar to the general public, but in the eyes of some VCs and practitioners, it means the "next era" and has long been a hot topic.

STEPN has also caught on. Since the public beta version was launched at the end of December 2021, it has been ranked among the top in many global application markets such as Australia and Japan. According to the official website, its official Twitter account has more than 160,000 followers in the six months since it was established in September 2021.

Among the players, there is information that STEPN founder Jerry Huang once shared with the public, saying that STEPN has more than 100,000 daily active users and its daily transaction volume has exceeded that of Axie Infinity. The latter is another popular "Play to Earn" blockchain game. Since entering Twitter in January 2018, the number of fans has grown to 920,000 in 4 years.

Some people believe that STEPN has made Web3 a reality in real life and is promoting the popularization of Web3.0. However, Web3 is still just a tiny bud, and every player who is ready to enter the market will inevitably doubt whether STEPN, known as the "copycat of Qubu", is reliable or not. Is it really profitable or just a scam?

Can you make money while working with STEPN? Some people invest 300,000 yuan, while others wait and see

“Can you really make money while you’re on the move with STEPN?” Bilion was skeptical when he first learned about the project. As a veteran in the cryptocurrency community who has been following Bitcoin since 2014, he began to pay attention to and understand STEPN’s economic system when STEPN was first launched last year.

In STEPN, users must have sports shoes NFT. Sports shoes NFT is divided into Walker walking shoes, Jogger jogging shoes, Runner running shoes, Trainer all-around shoes, corresponding to different speeds during exercise, such as the speed limit of Walker is 1-6km/h. At the same time, according to the degree of rarity, it is also divided into different levels such as gray, green, blue, purple, orange, etc. Purple shoes and orange shoes are not officially released yet. The attributes of shoes are also divided into efficiency, comfort, durability, and luck.

As of April 2, the floor price of the gray shoes was about 7,500 yuan. The highest price of NFT sports shoes on the market in STEPN is 10,000 SOL coins, which is equivalent to more than 8 million yuan . According to Bilion's observation, the Jogger green shoes had reached more than 20,000 yuan in early February. In March, NFT sports shoes were sold at a price of 999 SOL coins, which was equivalent to more than 600,000 yuan at the time.

Some users said on social media that they were blocked from buying the shoes because of the expensive price. Many players have already calculated the economic cost. After evaluation, some players said that even if they bought the cheapest shoes to make money, the payback period would take about 30 to 45 days.

It is worth noting that with the sneakers NFT, the amount of GST a player can earn every day is also limited, because the player's daily exercise time is limited by energy (recovery rate of 25% every 6 hours).

If users want to make more money, there are two main ways: upgrade shoes to get more tokens GST (game tokens, unlimited supply)/GMT (governance tokens, capped at 6 billion, only available to high-level players); or sell their own shoes or shoe boxes on the market to get SOL coins for cash. Two pairs of the same shoes can be minted (synthesized) into new shoes. STEPN will collect a certain percentage of the market transaction volume as company income.

To change the properties of shoes, you can buy gems. To synthesize, upgrade shoes, and upgrade gems, you need to consume GST. In other words, STEPN has an output mechanism and a consumption mechanism . But how much GST you can earn, in general, is related to many factors such as energy value, running speed, and sports shoes type, attribute, level, gem type, quantity, etc.

After watching for a month, Bilion decided to give it a try. On February 5, he spent about 6,000 yuan to buy his first pair of gray shoes. Three days later, he bought a pair of green shoes. After that, he kept adding to his position, insisting on making money every day, buying shoes, making shoes, and selling shoes.

Many people entered with the mentality of "investment", but under the setting of the game system, they became "sports fanatics". After slowly becoming "addicted", Bilion also opened an account for his family. He told Shenran that the total family investment in STEPN has reached more than 300,000 yuan, the total number of family shoes is more than 70 pairs, and the daily sports income converted into RMB is about 15,000 yuan.

User checks in after running. Source: provided by the interviewee.

The "price" is that he has to go out for exercise every day, and he has to stick to it until the limit time when the account energy is used up. Even if he is very busy with his daily work, he has to squeeze in sleep time to do these things. Before, although he also had the habit of jogging, he often did it for three days and then slacked off for two days. Nowadays, even in order to upgrade his shoes regularly, he has set several alarms specifically to not waste any time.

Gino from Australia also became a "sports fanatic" because of STEPN. At the end of February this year, she registered for STEPN on the recommendation of a friend. She initially bought a pair of green shoes and two pairs of gray shoes, and later bought new shoes one after another, with a total investment of nearly 100,000 yuan.

Gino has sold countless shoes through "Shoes Produce Shoes". As her personal account gradually upgrades, she can exercise for one hour a day, and her daily income has reached about 200 GST, which is equivalent to 600 US dollars in early March.

" If I don't walk for a day, I will lose $600 in income. Why can't I go running? " Last month, there were heavy rains in Gino's area for 14 consecutive days, but in order to "earn while walking", she did not interrupt her exercise. She bought a raincoat and went out for a slow walk for an hour every day.

By the end of March, after the limited supply of STEPN's governance currency GMT was launched on the world-class blockchain trading platform Binance, GMT ushered in a wave of increases. Gino sold part of the GMT first and recovered the cost.

The way to maximize profits in STEPN has been figured out. In some STEPN communities, someone has created a small program assistant to calculate the payback period. Single gray, three grays, one green and two grays, and one green and eight grays are considered to be the combination that can maximize profits for newcomers . Players will also show off their profits in the group. A gold farmer (a person who makes money from games) who owns 14 pairs of gray shoes and one pair of green shoes claims that he has achieved a daily income of 3,000 yuan, while half a month ago he could only make 800 yuan a day.

A small program for players to calculate the payback period

Where there is profit, chaos is likely to ensue. "Speculators" who don't have time to run hire "runners". Even some big players have entered the market and opened the STEPN "Run for Profit" studio, hiring college students or running enthusiasts to complete their daily exercise.

Those who rush into the market know that a project may still have dividends in its early stages and it is easier to make money. But they are also discussing whether STEPN has a future. Will the efficiency of its profits gradually decrease after entering a stable period, or will it just become a failure?

But at least for now, their mentality is to make as much money as possible. "As soon as you buy sports shoes NFTs and invest real money, your mentality will change, and you will always pay attention to whether your wealth has shrunk."

Is the popular “Paozhuan” the next Qubu?

The sought-after STEPN has given Web3.0 practitioners and players a sense of freshness. But in fact, similar products have appeared before and after STEPN.

Another blockchain game, Axie Infinity, which is based on the "Play to Earn" model, was popular last year and was once very popular in countries such as the Philippines, India, and Brazil. It has become a way for many people to make money by playing games. It is reported that a player devoted himself to Axie Infinity in July 2021 and earned $1,170 a month. As of July 30, the game Axie Infinity had a daily revenue of $40 million, which is four times the average daily revenue of the iOS version of "Honor of Kings" during the same period.

STEPN, which appeared later, is one of the followers of Axie Infinity in a sense. According to public information, STEPN is an Australian on-chain game developer. Its two founders, Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong, are both Chinese. The former entered the game circle in 2008. Yawn mentioned in an interview that the team started thinking about new directions after seeing Axie Infinity, which led to the creation of STEPN.

However, after the "Move to Earn" model created by STEPN became popular, imitators also emerged one after another. For example, "Let Me Speak" with the "Learn to Earn" model, and Singapore also had a "Sleep to Earn" project that allows people to make money while sleeping. However, these two projects are not as mature as STEPN.

Just like the Web2.0 stage, the online earning model was once the entrance for Internet companies to snatch users. Platforms such as making money by walking, watching videos, and sleeping have emerged one after another. These models may also take on new forms in the Web3.0 era. "Currently, Web3 is still in the early stages of construction. In theory, many things in Web2 can be redone," Daozhu, a practitioner in the Web3.0 field, told Shenran.

However, countless copycats of Axie Infinity have collapsed, but STEPN has been able to stand out among the “earn while playing” blockchain games. It is considered innovative because it combines “earn while walking” with the real world. On the basis of making money, it also emphasizes “social attributes” . Users can “earn while running” with their real-world friends, and exercise check-ins can also be shared on social platforms.

The island owner analyzed that "previous blockchain games were mostly set in virtual worlds and were based on fictional reality. These games essentially gamified DeFi (decentralized finance) or modified old game chains. Now the 'earn while walking' model breaks through the limitations of games and allows users to actually implement this application in their daily lives."

Gino compared STEPN with games in the Web2.0 era such as Fantasy Westward Journey and blockchain game Axie Infinity. She believes that STEPN is more convenient to operate and allows people to get rid of computers and earn money while walking in a healthy lifestyle. Bilion also mentioned that "the fitness attributes of this game itself have also changed my real life."

However, STEPN, a new Web3.0 product, has also been questioned because of its "making money by walking" model, whether it is a "QuBu" disguised as a Ponzi scheme.

As early as 2018, Qubu launched the slogan "You can make money by exercising" and attracted users with the propaganda that "Walk 4,000 steps a day and you can earn at least 200 yuan a month." But in fact, Qubu's promotion is a pyramid scheme. "Invest in promotion and develop a team, and you can earn thousands or even hundreds of thousands a month." Under the system of developing downlines to get dividends, Qubu claimed that its users once exceeded 30 million.

In Qubu, only by constantly attracting new people to join the game can the users who have invested previously earn profits and the platform can continue to operate. Qubu has also been driving up the price of virtual currency "candy" on the platform to attract new people to join. The final outcome of Qubu is that it was investigated for suspected pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and financial fraud.

Although STEPN’s current model does not require “developing downlines” like Qubu to make money, the essence of making money is to earn tokens and requires someone to continue to pay for sports shoes NFTs.

In the Web3.0 era, is it reliable to “earn while playing”?

A large number of users are waiting and watching. They are worried that as STEPN enters the later stages of development, the efficiency of its revenue will gradually decrease, so that latecomers will become the leeks who take over at high prices, or that it will eventually collapse and become a scam of passing the parcel.

People who firmly believe that STEPN has a future are still investing heavily. What they see is the plans and visions that STEPN has released to the outside world. For example, it can reduce carbon emissions; in the future, it will promote a leasing system, which can lower the entry threshold for players, etc. They firmly believe that unlike other "capital" founding teams that hide behind the scenes, the founding team of STEPN has been in the foreground for nearly three months, and is more credible.

Returning to rationality, players are well aware that how long STEPN's life cycle can be depends on whether its "economic system" is healthy and sustainable.

In the Web3.0 era, a game is equivalent to a virtual "small country", and its operating power and durability depend on the construction and improvement of the economic system. The team cannot intervene too much, but needs real-time monitoring and macro-control.

As a product based on "blockchain technology", once the influx of new players into STEPN slows down and the supply and demand relationship tilts, the player assets will depreciate rapidly due to the weakening of market liquidity, causing the economic system of the game to collapse; but if a large number of users pour in at the same time, it may drive up the price of sneakers, leading to excessive prices and inflation, which will also cause the game to decline. There is only one result, the sneaker NFT and GST in STEPN will become abandoned codes.

Although many players believe that STEPN has been trying its best to "prevent bubbles", STEPN has not been in operation for a long time, and whether the output and consumption of its internal GST and GMT can achieve a balance remains to be tested.

The security of the product also directly determines the fate of the players. "When the transaction volume of a platform grows, it may be targeted by hackers with ulterior motives." The island owner said. On March 29, Axie Infinity's Ethereum sidechain Ronin Network announced that it had been hacked, resulting in a loss of approximately US$625 million (173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC).

STEPN is on the rise, but Web3.0 practitioners are both happy and worried.

An investor who is concerned about Web3.0 told Shenran that the current stage of Web3.0 is like the development of Web2.0 in the 1990s, when smartphones had not yet appeared. Compared with China, which currently does not open NFT secondary transactions, the development of Web3.0 overseas is faster. However, STEPN is bringing more and more people into contact with Web3.0.

But what worries practitioners is that most of the entrants are speculators who want to make money in the short term, which will be detrimental to the development of the entire Web3 ecosystem. The island owner said, "'Speculators' hope that virtual assets will appreciate in value, while real Web3 builders hope that Web3 can play a role in areas such as data information rights confirmation, decentralization and self-governance, rather than becoming a target for 'speculators' to make money."

The island owner believes that from a global perspective, the key to Web3 in 2022 lies in "breaking the circle" and "compliance". "Breaking the circle" means that more Web2 practitioners and users can enter the market. "Compliance" means that Web3 will move towards compliance, and more and more regions in the world will be able to introduce relevant policies to provide a soil for the development of practitioners and protect the rights and interests of users from a legal perspective. Only by achieving breaking the circle and compliance can Web3 usher in a scene of flourishing: the infrastructure is getting better and better, a large number of products are emerging, and more and more users are increasing, and the ecosystem will naturally prosper slowly.

Some people regard 2022 as the first year for VCs and practitioners to flock to Web3.0. The STEPN team has completed a $5 million seed round of financing in January this year, led by Sequoia Capital India and Folius Ventures.

But Web3.0 is now in its early stages, with new products emerging one after another. It is too early to draw conclusions as to which one will make it to the end.

*The title image comes from the Internet. At the request of the interviewees, Bilion, Gino, and the island owner are all pseudonyms.