How to make money on NFT while playing sports

We continue to talk about how to make money on NFT projects. Today we will talk about a mobile application that allows users to earn money literally while running or walking. You buy NFT shoes, and the app pays you rewards for every run. How it works?

How the application works

If you are interested in how to make money on NFT, then you know that most NFT games work on the principle of Play-to-Earn (play to earn money). That is, the player receives rewards in the form of game tokens for performing certain actions, or achieving results in the game.

The STEPN app uses a similar token earning approach to sports gamification and calls it Move-to-Earn (move to earn). In other words, if in Play-to-Earn games you earn by winning virtual battles or races, then in STEPN you earn tokens and NFTs by going for a run in the real world.

The purpose of the STEPN app is to motivate users to run, turning running not only into a sport, but also into a gaming way to earn on NFTs.

The main STEPN token is called the Green Satoshi Token (GST). Tokens are paid out to the user for every movement made while running or walking. GST can be spent within the game (for example, to upgrade your sneakers), or exchanged for USDC stablecoin. Then, if desired, earnings can be converted into fiat currency (for example, into dollars). By the way, the GST token shows a steady annual growth rate.

The user starts earning in-game tokens only when he has his own virtual NFT sneakers in the application and he moves along the street with his smartphone. Your activity while running or walking is tracked using GPS on your mobile device.

The application is designed so that you cannot run all day long, earning tokens on it. You have a limited supply of energy that allows you to earn while jogging / walking. When the energy runs out, you need to wait for it to be restored in order to start earning GST tokens again.

So, in order to start earning, you need to download the application on your iOS or Android smartphone.

Then, you need to buy virtual sneakers on the app’s marketplace. Sneakers are an NFT item, and your main asset for earning.

One pair of sneakers gives you 2 units of energy. 1 unit of energy equals 5 minutes of running. Accordingly, if you have one pair of sneakers, then you can run or walk, while earning tokens, for 10 minutes a day. Then you will need 24 hours to restore energy. At the same time, you can have several pairs of sneakers at the same time. This will increase your energy supply, and, accordingly, will allow you to run more and earn more in one day.

Sneakers are divided into 4 types depending on the level of the desired load:

  • Walker (Walking, 1-6 km/h). Bring 4 GST per 1 unit of energy spent;
  • Jogger (Jogging, 4-10 km/h). Bring 5 GST per 1 unit of energy spent;
  • Runner (Fast running, 8-20 km/h). Bring 6 GST per 1 unit of energy spent;
  • Trainer (Suitable for any pace, 1-20 km/h). Brings from 4 to 6.25 GST per 1 unit of energy expended, depending on your pace;

To earn in-game currency by owning a certain type of sneaker, you need to run at the appropriate pace.

The more intense the load level, the more tokens you get per unit of energy spent.

Also, sneakers have 4 main attributes (Efficiency, Luck, Comfort, Durability), and 5 quality levels (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary), which affect the level of your earnings.

In addition, you can upgrade the level of your sneakers, as well as add various improvements (gems) to them, which also contributes to the growth of your income.

After some time after use, sneakers can wear out and need to be repaired.

Pumping and improving sneakers, as well as repairing them, require the player to spend (burn) a certain amount of GST tokens. Therefore, we advise you to immerse yourself in the study of the characteristics of sneakers in more detail, and develop your own approach to pumping sneakers in the process of mastering the application.

Since the application runs on the Solana blockchain, in order to buy a pair of sneakers on the marketplace, you need to purchase a SOL token and add it to your game wallet.

The price of sneakers on the market varies depending on their characteristics. At the time of writing, the most budget pair of sneakers costs about 9 SOL (~$980). It is important to understand that while the price of sneakers is growing rapidly. Over the past month, the price for a pair has almost doubled.

Another interesting possibility is the creation (mint) of a new NFT. If you have several pairs of sneakers, you can cross them and get a third pair. This action also requires spending a fairly large amount of GST tokens. Floor after learning a new pair of sneakers, you can keep them for yourself (thereby increasing the amount of time per day that you can spend on running with earnings), or sell this pair to another player on the marketplace.

How to make money on STEPN?

Now there are 2 main ways using the application:

1. Earn directly by running or walking.

This is the main way to earn money. After all, one of the key tasks of the application is to motivate us to move more. Earlier in this article, we talked about the fact that many parameters affect the level of your earnings in this scenario, ranging from the level and attributes of your sneakers to the element of chance (a randomizer is integrated into the STEPN game mechanics).

If we talk about the approximate level of earnings, then the owners of budget-level virtual sneakers can earn about $40 per day. Owners of more expensive NFTs can earn $80 or more.

Thus, with daily runs from 10 minutes a day, investments per pair of sneakers pay off approximately in the second month of using the application (if the token rate does not change). Then you start to make a profit from playing sports.

2. Earn by creating (minting) new NFTs.

This method requires more investment, and is less predictable than the previous one, because. the results of the “mint” largely depend on your luck. But, potentially, here you can earn large sums. The higher the risk, the higher the return. Again, the guaranteed outcome in this scenario is more difficult to predict. So, there is room for experimentation here.

Developers are actively introducing new game mechanics into the application. Surely, it will be possible to talk about such additional ways of earning as selling sneakers that drop out of loot boxes (Mystery Box), participating in various types of competitions between players, renting out NFTs, as well as staking the GMT governance token.

conclusions

Summarizing the review of the application, we note once again why it is worth paying attention to:

  • Fascinating game mechanics (for lovers of an active lifestyle). If in most NFT games you earn while sitting on a chair, then STEPN not only allows you to earn on NFT, but also motivates you to play sports. Any person who wants to be in shape is shown a certain level of moderate physical activity per day. In general, a 10-minute run or walk will not only give you a source of additional income, but will also benefit your health;
  • Stable in-game economy. The in-game GST token has shown steady growth over the past year. The developers also thought about anti-inflationary mechanisms. Most of the actions in the application involve “burning” the token. Players need to spend GST when leveling, upgrading, customizing, repairing their sneakers, minting new NFTs, etc. This helps maintain the exchange rate of the in-game currency;
  • Low fees and high transaction speed. The application uses the Solana blockchain and it is very user-friendly;
  • Excellent development prospects. The application has a strong team of developers and investors. In January of this year, STEPN received a $5 million seed funding round. Among the investors of the application are such large players as, for example, Sequoia Capital. The developers promise to introduce such interesting features as a system of quests and achievements, competitions and marathons, the ability to rent and rent sneakers, staking tokens, and much more.