STEPN, the most popular fitness-focused move-to-earn game, shared an official announcement that they will block geolocation (GPS) services for users in mainland China from July 15.
2/如果您預期長期會在該地區的GPS IPI
— Stepan | Public Beta Phase IV (@Stepnofficial) 26 May 2022
Following the announcement, at the time of writing, STEPN (GMT) price dropped by 5.29% to a low of around $0.83 and then traded down 20.67% to $1.05.
What is Stepan?
After being launched in late 2021, STEPN gained popularity around the world, garnering over $20M in profits in the first quarter of 2022. Currently, the game has over 580K global players, however, it is not clear how many players there are in China.
Since the company will block all China-based IP addresses, local users have been given until July 15 to arrange for their virtual assets before the change takes effect.
STEPN uses the GPS concept to track the movement and steps of players who purchase virtual NFT sneakers. Virtual NFT sneakers are then converted into in-game utility tokens.
What causes STEPN to block GPS services in mainland China?
The move to block GPS services in mainland China is mainly due to regulatory issues.
Although STEPN did not clarify why the team decided to take that stand, their Twitter thread indicated compliance with regulatory policies.
3/ Stepn Steppen從創建起就沒有在中國大陸地區從事任何Step
Istep
— Stepan | Public Beta Phase IV (@Stepnofficial) 26 May 2022
Post noted:
“STEPN has always attached great importance to compliance obligations and has always strictly adhered to the relevant requirements of local regulatory agencies. We also remind users to beware of scams.”
However, the Chinese government is known for its strict policies against digital recording technologies that it does not provide and also for fear of foreign surveillance.
Last year, the Chinese government banned the use of Tesla cars by its state officials after their facial recognition cameras said they could be used for spying and gathering state information.
Earlier this year, China’s general prosecutor added levels of oversight to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. In addition, authorities in the country have been warned against financial crimes such as illegal fundraising and money laundering carried out through Metaverse and NFTs. Related offenses will not be tolerated and will be punished severely
