Move to earn has its roots in a similar place as the Play-2-Earn trend, where users are given digital assets that have real-world value while playing games.
NFTs have been the hot topic of 2021, where even celebrities with large social media followings have joined in on the opportunities. With the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs gaining momentum, many believe that we are just at the start of the NFT buzz. With recent developments in Web3, more and more different kinds of projects are popping up. Move-to-Earn (Move-2-Earn), or M2E for short, is one of those innovative movements.
As the name suggests, move to earn projects reward its users for doing physical activities, such as walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, and many other activities.
These projects usually reward their users with their own native utility tokens which hold real-world value. Usually, there is some sort of investment needed to get started, such as buying an NFT associated with the project, but there are also some projects that allow users to join for free and grind their way to some profit.
With the ever-growing fitness industry here are some reasons why move-2-earn has really huge potential to grow into something that will dominate the market.
When it comes to investing, investors are always looking for new trends and hot topics, because if you are one of the first to join a growing market that has huge growth potential, you will benefit like no one else.
We have already seen millions of dollars invested in M2E projects, with news coming out each and every day about new potential investors. Projects such as STEPN and Genopets have raised $5 million and $8.3 million respectively.
Another growth potential lies in industry giants which produce products that incentivize physical activities. Companies like Nike, Adidas, and Puma have shown glimpses of interest and small investments in Move-to-Earn projects. They also have the ability to release their own NFTs and capitalize on the market as they have astronomically huge customer bases of sneakerheads who are ready to spend big money to own their product.
Companies such as Giant, GT, and Marin who specialize in bicycles could also release their own NFTs which come with their real-life bicycles, and use those NFTs to increase their sales.
When it comes to Play-2-Earn games, they are more established than Move-2-Earn as they were the first NFT projects that gave their users the ability to earn real-life money by owning NFTs and playing games with them.
But when it comes to accessibility, M2E projects are more accessible to a wider range of customers as all you need to have is a smartphone and an internet connection. On the other hand, P2E games require users to own strong computers or laptops as blockchain puts a big burden on computing power.
Also, compared to Play-to-Earn projects, Move-to-Earn projects are easier to use as you can start them up anytime you want.
Covid-19 put a lot of pressure on us, as it locked most people up in their homes for almost two years. Because of this, people are eager to spend more time outside doing physical activities and enjoying freedom.
During the lockdowns, we spent a lot less time with our friends, and M2E projects are a really good way to spend more time with our friends. When someone joins any of those projects, usually some of the friends also get interested and follow suit. With that said, they usually plan activities together, be it going on a jog or cycling through the park.
When it comes to Move-to-Earn projects, there are a few that have already seen success, gathered huge communities around them, and raised a lot of funding.
STEPN is the hottest one right now. Developed in Australia by Huang and Yawn Rong, it was first introduced to the public during the Solana hackathon.
STEPN encourages its users to do physical activities, walking, jogging, or running, and rewards them with Green Satoshi Token (GST). They also have their native token GMT, which as of August, has a market cap of $471 million.
So how does it work? The first thing a user needs to do is to acquire a digital sneaker which is also an NFT. These NFTs can be purchased through the in-game marketplace.
The entry price is around $100-$150. They can also be purchased outside the platform on different websites, but while doing so users should be careful as there are many scams on the market which are showing themselves as STEPN sneakers, when in fact they are not.
When it comes to sneakers, there are four types.
There are also 5 rarities of sneakers: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary
When users start up their STEPN application and start to move, they need to move at specific speeds, depending on the type of sneaker they own, as shown above. Each user is given a specific amount of energy each day, depending on the number of sneakers they own and the rarity of those sneakers. After you spend all of your energy, you will be given some amount of GST depending on your sneaker.
Users also have the ability to “breed” two sneakers to mint a third one which they can sell on the market or keep to increase their daily energy.
"STEPN is a move to earn, we call it lifestyle app. So basically, it has game elements, but generally, encourage people to go outside and walk or run" - Yawn Rong
Unlike most of the Move-to-Earn projects, you can join Genopets for free and grind your way up.
Genopets is the first successful Move-to-Earn project which was launched in November 2021. In Genopets, you own NFTs in the form of virtual beastly dogs, which you can level up by doing physical activities and after reaching certain levels you are able to sell them on the marketplace for crypto or keep them to receive their $KI token which has real-world value.
"Genopets is the world's first move to earn nft game that
incentivizes active lifestyles. What that means is making an nft game where as you take care of yourself you'll be taking care of your Genopets" - Jay Cheng
There are two ways you can approach the game.
You will be given physical activity tasks that you have to complete and level up your pet. When your pet reaches a certain level, you can sell it on the in-game marketplace for crypto. The higher the level of your pet, the more it will fetch. There is also a mechanic which allows players to fight each other with their own pets and gain levels by doing so.
When approaching the game with a pay-to-play strategy, you are able to do everything the free version does, but on top of that, you are given the option to purchase a Habitat where your pet can live and level up faster. By owning a Habitat you will also be able to earn a $KI token every day which holds real-world value.
If you want to join the project, you can do so through their website. You also have to own a Solana network wallet with at least 0.0001 SOL, as well as a Discord account which you can easily create as all you need is an email address.
We have already mentioned that you need a Habitat to level up your pet faster, but there are also purified crystals that you can purchase for a GENE token as well as a $KI token. There are five different types of crystals, each one upgrading a different portion of your pet.
Sweatcoin is a smartphone application that is a great example of already established companies joining the new growing Move-2-Earn market.
Sweatcoin was launched in 2016, and we can say that it was ahead of its time. This app tracks the steps its users take each day and rewards them with Sweatcoins according to the number of steps they took.
Currently, this Sweatcoin token does not hold any real-life value, and the only usage they have is that they can be redeemed for different kinds of rewards, such as discounts, subscriptions, and some real items, which in theory is still Move-to-Earn.
But with a growing trend of M2E, the Sweatcoin team saw a huge potential for growth. They already have a really big community of users who use the app for current rewards. So recently they announced that they would be listing their own native token $SWEAT, which will hold real-world value just like other Move-to-Earn native tokens. But further details are still vaguely unknown as we wait for further information to come out.
"We launched our product in 2016 with a very simple purpose to inspire a healthy planet.. our way of making people more active will always revolve around a token, around a value concept of physical activity and what we are creating is what we call a sweat economy; it's an open economy of movement and an integral part of it is creating a new form or new generation currency that's generated by physical activity" - Anton Derlyatka
Well to sum up this guide, we can say that there is a huge potential for Move-2-Earn projects. It can gather a huge community as it is easily accessible to a wide range of people. Also, one of its biggest advantages is that there is still a lot of room for growth, as industry giants are keeping a close eye on the new trend, ready to jump in when the time will be right.
We also have to give you a warning. With every trend where there is money involved there are countless scam projects which try to mimic other successful projects in the hope of tricking unaware people into investing in their projects and scamming them out of their money.
So be careful when choosing which project to invest in and don't forget to do research and then decide which project is worth investing in.
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Move-2-Earn (aka Move-to-Earn or M2E) projects are based on blockchain tech and incentivize its users to perform physical activities in return for rewards in the form of crypto.
Move-to-Earn projects are based on Play-to-Earn projects and similarities between these two projects are that users receive crypto and other rewards for completing different tasks. The difference between these two is that Play-to-Earn games usually require you to own a PC or laptop, while Move-to-Earn projects only require a smartphone.
Since this is a new trend, no one knows how successful it will be. But if you have some spare money to spend and also love outdoor activities, then joining this project should be a good and fun experience.
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