‘Strava Meets Pokémon Go’: Stepn Has 3 Million Users, But Its Token Is Down 97% – Decrypt

If you’re in the NFT space, it’s unlikely you haven’t heard of Steppen by now. The NFT-based fitness app launched less than six months ago and has an impressive 3 million monthly active users—an app that requires you to purchase an NFT to use it.

The app, which CMO Shiti Manghani described as “Strava Meets Pokémon Go,” became hugely popular among crypto Twitter and Web3 circles in April.

“It almost feels surreal,” said Manghani in the latest episode of decryptK GM Podcast. “Just going back, looking at the macro-environment, it took 68 years for the airplane industry to reach 50 million users. And Twitter took about two years, and then Pokémon Go took a few months. Web overall 3 Compounding is squeezing that space for growth, because we give everything back to the users.”

But that was in April. In the first week of May, Stepan’s GST (Green Satoshi) token fell off a cliff, as the crypto markets collapsed and the Terra ecosystem collapsed. It is now trading at $0.18, which is 97% lower than its all-time high of $9 on April 28.

The way Stepn works is that you earn a fraction of GST for walking, jogging or running; The amount of GST you earn depends on the level of NFT sneaker you have purchased. Back in April, the folks at Web3 would claim about earning as much as $30 for just one run on crypto Twitter. The entry price of one of Stepan’s NFT sneakers (priced in SOL) was $600 at the time, but at the highest level of GST, you could earn your money back in a month or two.

Now the GST is 18 cents, and walking a few miles with an entry-level sneaker will earn you less than $1.

But followers of the app say Stepan represents something more important: a test case for an NFT with real utility. Many in the NFT sector believe this is where NFTs are headed: beyond a pure digital flex and into the realm of real use cases, whether in “gamefi” or in-person event ticketing.

Manghani calls the app “investing in health with the mindset of NFTs”.

“One could arguably question why monkeys pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for JPEG, dare I say, or just for the art on the wall,” she said. “There is a different mindset regarding digital money, crypto money, NFTs, and how to use it for positive gains, for social impact, is something we are solving.”

Stepan is also introducing newcomers to crypto and NFTs, though perhaps not as much now as they were when the value of GST was high. Manghani said the app has a third of its users”non-crypto natives.”

They’re attracted to the application of a digital token to an outdoor activity (Step won’t work with a treadmill; you’ll have to walk, jog, or run outside). ,It’s the exact opposite of this dystopian myth of Ready Player One,” Manghani said. “We have about 100,000 people running every minute: really, not out metaverse,

To continue his development and avoid being tied entirely to token value, Stepn will need to avoid the pitfalls of other “play-to-earn” games such as Axie Infinity, a creature-fighting game in which Users need to purchase three game pieces NFTs to play. , After the game’s active users and token prices rose, then fell, the platform underwent major changes, including a free “starter axis” for people to start.

Manghani says the activation code — you can’t sign up until you receive the code from someone — was one of several “hard calls” Stepan took to avoid speculators. “To be honest, it would be very easy for us to sit back and just go wild… As harsh as it may sound, it is actually an easy thing to do. The hard work, which we have done, has really fueled the influx of users. Funnels so that new users don’t become exhausted liquidity for old users. We’re completely paranoid about supply and demand.”

A sweetener can have social characteristics. Stepn still doesn’t have any of the following elements from the Strava and Nike Running Club friends; Manghani says they are coming soon.

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