‘Move-to-earn’ Solana app StepN is the latest crypto gaming craze

StepN, a play-to-earn network gaming, or GameFi, a platform that allows users to run and walk in exchange for tokens, has swiftly gained notoriety since its inception in December. According to StepN co-founder Jerry Huang, there are now between two and three million active users on the app each month. Even if that figure is much below the hundred million players achieved by popular Web 2.0 games, it represents a significant development for a five-month-old software in the crypto sphere. GMT, StepN’s native coin, had a market worth of about $860 million as of May 22.

Intro

StepN made its public premiere at a Solana hackathon in October after being created by Huang and Yawn Rong in Adelaide, Australia. Exposure to the competition helped it acquire its first beta users after placing fourth. The blockchain community was already aware of the app when it was formally launched two months after it had been developed. Numerous individuals signed up without the aid of any elaborate advertising strategy.

StepN grew so quickly in a few weeks that the company had to set a daily enrollment cap. According to Huang, tens of thousands of new users are now signing up for the app every day. Initially, blockchain venture capitalist Rong and serial entrepreneur Huang self-funded the initiative because they were both “financially stable.” However, they determined in September that fundraising may bring more valuable resources like partnerships and publicity. Before raising a $5 million seed round from Sequoia Capital and others in November, the founders spoke to over 100 investors and changed their pitch deck more than 40 times.

“At the time, we lacked a product, and a lot of investors didn’t know what we were up to. Sequoia did. We also refined the product to where it was later in the process of responding to investor questions,” Huang said. The rapidly expanding app seems to be self-sufficient for the time being. It makes a daily net profit of $3–$5 million through trading commissions and can make up to $100 million monthly. It received a second round of strategic investment from Binance in April.

Whether it can be called a ‘game’

STEPN is a Game-Fi concept where users can earn attractive tokens while jogging, walking, or running. In the game, players can improve in-game jewels, produce additional sneakers, pay for repairs, and participate in online marathons by burning game tokens. Players can acquire governance tokens at the highest level, allowing them to choose how the game’s revenue will be distributed.

Is it a game?

Some believe that the fact that StepN and other play-to-earn network games like Axie Infinity are fundamentally financial assets with a gamified twist is what makes them successful. Users must initially pay a minimum of 12 sol on a pair of virtual shoes to begin gaining tokens and logging their mileage on StepN. The admission price is still not a small sum for any casual player, even though the electronic shoes are a non-fungible token (NFT) that operates on the Solana network and Binance’s smart chain so that they can be resold later.

Users of StepN will eventually need to accumulate fresh kicks to level up. After the typical month-long return on investment, consumers can begin earning up to several thousand dollars each day, depending on their level, degree of activity, and the price of StepN tokens at the time. To put it another way, the game can be quite profitable. Some seasoned gamers claim that the majority of GameFi apps now available have “simple and mindless” gameplay. For instance, the charming blob-like creatures in Axie Infinity engage in straightforward combat. As a result, many Web 2.0 gaming veterans are joining GameFi and promising to restore quality to the sector.

In contrast, Huang argued. “A lot of triple-A games emphasize aesthetics and big budgets, but they aren’t that creative when it comes to gameplay, while some straightforward games like Plants vs Zombies have an excellent gameplay that makes them last for long,” said Huang, who operated his gaming studio in China before relocating to Australia ten years ago. Many newcomers to GameFi, he noted, “are blindly pursuing triple-A productions. But why would they be in web3 if they hadn’t already succeeded in web2? Some games that appear straightforward aren’t, for example, as straightforward as they appear to be in terms of how our app’s economics are designed.

Is it sustainable?

The viability of the play-to-financial earn model is contested by other commentators. To sustain such a revenue model, the gameplay must either be so compelling that players don’t cash out their coins or that the app continues to draw in new customers who sign up to replace the ones who do. Play-to-earn has even been compared by detractors to pyramid scams. The meteoric rise of Axie Infinity hasn’t been able to continue. The game’s Vietnamese developer, Sky Mavis, had a $3 billion valuation in a $150 million fundraising round last October. However, since reaching a high of $160 in November, the token’s value has dropped by nearly 80%, and its sales volume has plummeted from $754 million to barely $5 million.

For the majority of StepN’s users, who are between the age of 20 and 40 and come from wealthy nations like the United States, Europe, and Japan, losing a few thousand dollars is not the end of the world. Less than 5% of its user base is located in China, where cryptocurrency trading is prohibited, according to Huang. However, the majority of the participants in Axie Infinity are from impoverished nations like the Philippines and Venezuela, and many of them are risking a sizable portion of their money on the game, which has become a substantial source of their income amid the COVID pandemic.

StepN suggests a dual approach to sustainability. For starters, it’s developing a price stabilization mechanism to guarantee that the price of its coins is always at a level that keeps the shoes affordable for new users while also preventing existing users from having enough incentive to mint new shoes—that is, to create new shoes on the network and sell—from time to time. With the help of its dual-token system, price manipulation is possible. StepN would require gamers to burn their “governance coin” GMT to mint new shoes when the value of its “utility coin” GST is too high, and shoes become expensive. As a result, the supply of GST rises, which triggers a sell-off and lowers its price.

Additionally, Huang suggested that StepN fundamentally differs from Axie Infinity due to its fitness component. Yes, users of StepN can initially make money from it, but with time they will also get used to being active, so they will keep walking or running regardless of the potential for financial gain. “Many people do not consider StepN to be a true game. Because users may profit from it, they don’t even view it as a running app, according to Curt Shi, founding partner of Welinder & Shi Capital and an early backer of StepN. “At this point, it’s difficult to explain what it is, but time will tell.”

Killer app?

Huang’s other justification is the potential contribution of StepN to the global blockchain evangelization effort. About 30% of the app’s users have reportedly never utilized any blockchain services. Few people know DEXs (decentralized exchanges), have traded NFTs on the market, or have possessed self-custodial wallets, even if many people may have utilized centralized transactions like Binance and Coinbase to trade. I believe it would be quite significant if we could sign up tens of millions of web3 users.

The creator stated, “I believe the [sustainable] issue is receiving too much attention. “ROI may decline with time, but every game has a lifespan. It would be best if you also considered the value that an app produces. In light of the falling value of cryptocurrencies, the app’s momentum may slow down earlier than anticipated. Startups are being advised by venture capital firms to prepare for a “crypto winter,” and employers like Coinbase are slowing down hiring. Blockchain applications that depend on acquiring new users to boost their economies may run into greater difficulties if customers lose faith in the market and become less inclined to spend on tokens or NFTs.

Huang, though, sees a bright spot in the current crisis. “The market was filled with a lot of froth. Only the [blockchain] apps with meaningful use cases will survive once the bubble bursts and our shoes become more affordable. Shi remarked, “The market was frothy, so it’s fortunate that [StepN’s market cap] has decreased over the past few days.” The team will now be concentrating more on the product itself, and we expect StepN will outperform in the weak market and be a winner in the following bull market. Maintaining a hypermarket cap can be difficult for the staff.

StepN’s next step is to develop a social product around its token holder network. The company currently employs 70 individuals and rapidly expands across nations such as Australia, the U.K., the U.S., and Singapore. It must now demonstrate its ability to attract a steady supply of fresh runners.

Solana-Based STEPN Reports $122.5M in Q2 Profits

STEPN, a game platform with headquarters in Solana, reported second-quarter earnings of $122.5 million despite the recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market, the team wrote in a Medium post on Tuesday. According to earlier reports, the “move to earn” operation brought in $26 million in Q1. Move-to-earn is a model where users get paid in bitcoin for their step count on the STEPN program, much like play-to-earn.

STEPN announced it would start a buyback and burn campaign for its native GMT tokens using 5% of the proceeds. To avoid abrupt market volatility, it was noted that the buyback and burn procedure “may take a few weeks to complete.” In addition to the repurchase and burn scheme, developers stated STEPN would use money reserves to enhance current features and expand the team.

According to STEPN, the team had identified several areas where the business will use its acquired money to enhance gameplay. Building the developer and core staff, implementing anti-cheating measures to stop bots from generating GMT, enhancing security, and looking for partnerships and sponsorship opportunities are a few of them. Following the release of the earnings, GMT prices modestly increased. At the time of publication, the tokens were trading for 85 cents, down 71% from their record-high price of $4.11 set in April.

How is the game doing now in 2023?

With a 24-hour trading volume of $25,666,418 USD, the current live price of STEPN is $0.247719 USD. On the previous day, STEPN decreased by 0.43%. With a live market cap of USD 148,631,190, CoinMarketCap now ranks #132. There are 600,000,000 GMT coins in circulation, with a maximum supply of 6,000,000,000 GMT coins.

The price of GMT is expected to rise significantly in the second half of 2023, possibly reaching $0.373084, according to the prediction. The climb will be moderate, much like other cryptocurrencies, but no significant declines are anticipated. Although $0.348211 is a lofty goal, it is doable shortly due to hoped-for collaborations and breakthroughs. The minimum price for GMT is anticipated to be $0.298467.

Conclusion

STEPN (GMT) is a Web3 project with the intriguing feature of earning through movement. Awarding users GMT tokens for performing basic daily tasks—such as moving around—focuses on enhancing their health and fitness. It features amazing Game-Fi and Social-Fi components, providing a special selling advantage.

With a current market valuation of almost $500 million, STEPN (GMT) is one of the most significant Move-to-Earn projects and generally displays bullish emotions. STEPN (GMT) is perhaps one of the most well-known and sought-after Solana projects thanks to the ongoing attempts to combine NFTs, Move-to-Earn, Game-Fi, and Social-Fi. One disadvantage of this kind of enterprise is the price inflation of in-app footwear and GMT, which may have an impact on the project’s future growth and development. Overall, STEPN GMT is a fantastic option for anyone who values investments and health due to its user-friendly and entertaining platform.