How to Make Money Walking with STEPN

Make money by walking with STEPN, a Solana NFT game. Learn how the move-to-earn crypto project works and where the movement may be heade.

By Larissa Lopes
Updated on July 25, 2022
How to Make Money Walking with STEPN

How to make money walking with STEPN? With inflation raging on and the U.S. on the brink of a recession, now is a great time to start making extra money. And what better way to do it than by walking? That’s right, walking!

How to Make Money Walking with STEPN

If you’re looking for side hustle ideas, consider joining the STEPN app. STEPN provides an easy way for users to earn crypto just to be active. The app monitors your movement and rewards you in tokens that can be sold for profit or reinvested into the game. So let’s see how to make money walking with STEPN.

What is STEPN?

STEPN is the first move-to-earn non-fungible token (NFT) game on the Solana blockchain. Developed by Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong, STEPN allows players with an NFT sneaker to earn tokens by walking, jogging, or running.

Like other running apps, STEPN uses GPS tracking to follow your exercise and reward you in crypto for completing milestones. While the exact NFT sneakers you own affect the efficiency of your earnings, in general, the more you move, the more you earn.

The game’s mission is to encourage players to live healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyles while linking the public to web3.

How does it work?

In order to play STEPN, users first need to download the STEPN app on Google Play or the Apple App Store. Then, after signing up and verifying an email address, you can connect a crypto wallet and explore the STEPN ecosystem.

How to Make Money Walking with STEPN

Then, using SOL, the native token of Solana, you can buy sneakers directly in the STEPN marketplace. Unfortunately, this step can be prohibitively expensive for some new players. 

To remove this barrier to entry, the developer team is reportedly working to introduce the ability to rent sneakers. And while this feature is not yet available, it will soon allow players to earn money playing crypto games without an upfront investment. 

So, in the meantime, you will have to decide what type of sneaker suits your preferred type of exercise. The game offers walkers, joggers, and runners.

To earn coins, you must “wear” the appropriate type of sneakers that correspond to your speed. For example, walkers are made for exercising at 1 to 6 km/hr, joggers are for 4 to 10 km/hr, and runners are for 8 to 20 km/hr. 

After purchasing sneakers, select the pair you want to use in the app, click Start, and earn! As you move in the correct speed range, you will see your tokens accumulate. And can redeem these earnings for cash or in-game investments like sneaker upgrades. 

Evaluating STEPN Sneakers

STEPN sneakers have four main statistics determining their in-game value: efficiency, luck, comfort, and resilience.

Efficiency measures how often your sneaker drops you a coin while moving. Luck measures how likely your sneaker is to find a mystery box. Mystery boxes contain gems that can use for shoe upgrades. 

Comfort controls the rate you earn GMT, the game’s governance token. Resilience controls how long your shoe lasts before it needs fixing.

In addition to leveling up your existing sneakers, and can use STEPN earnings to mint new pairs of shoes. This is an essential dynamic in the game because every 5 minutes of movement requires 1 energy.

Your first pair of shoes provides 2 energy per day or up to 10 minutes worth of rewards. After that, you will need to acquire more sneakers to earn beyond that activity time. Distance runners, for example, may need to accumulate as many as a dozen pairs of shoes to support 1-2 hours of continuous exercise. 

Tokenomics

Like many web3 applications, STEPN is powered by a two-token system. So, the sustainability of the game and its enticing payouts rely heavily on the tokenomics of cryptocurrencies GST and GMT.

GST, or the Green Satoshi Token, is a utility token and in-game spending token with an unlimited supply. It is earned for playing the game and used for repairing or leveling up existing shoes or minting new sneakers.

GMT, or the Green Metaverse Token, is a governance token with a capped supply of 6 billion. This token could be held as an investment as it has both a fixed supply and a well-understood emissions schedule. The GMT white paper also explains that these tokens will have in-game utility down the line.

The Future of STEPN

Crypto is often attacked as a solution in search of a problem. Critics argue that no genuine use cases have come out of the space, and these naysayers have only grown louder as crypto continues to crash.

STEPN has a real opportunity to flip this narrative on its head. Unlike complicated DeFi protocols, STEPN is a simple-to-use app that rewards users for walking. While it does run on crypto, the on-ramp is much simpler, meaning it may be able to break into the mass market. If the app can entice people to go on walks and live healthier, it has the opportunity to bring a large number of crypto novices on-chain.

However, there are some real challenges ahead. As STEPN gains traction, the rewards earned by players will likely degrade. The game’s long-term viability will rely on its ability to continue attracting and retaining players even with less profitable payouts. In addition, you’ll always be capable of making money while walking using STEPN.

How to Make Money Walking with STEPN

How to Move-to-Earn with STEPN

Now you know how to make money walking with STEPN, joining STEPN currently requires an activation code. This gatekeeping mechanism is in place to help manage the game’s early growth.

You can get a code from existing STEPN users or the game’s Discord. Otherwise, you can join the waitlist on the app.

To stay up to date on the latest developments in the space, sign up for a crypto newsletter. Whether you’re a move-to-earn convert or a total skeptic, it’s important to hear different perspectives on ideas and projects as they gain traction.