What is Sweat Economy? Earn Crypto for Walking Around

Onboarding the next billion users into crypto

SWEAT is a new cryptocurrency built by Sweatcoin on the NEAR blockchain. Similar to other Move-to-Earn tokens, users mint SWEAT tokens as they walk. Sweatcoin is the company building the tokens, apps, and Sweat coin wallet necessary for earning the SWEAT token by walking.

On the road to the mass adoption of blockchain technology, these dapps will play a pivotal role in onboarding. Dapps like SweatWallet let anyone jump into crypto with little prior knowledge, investment, or risk. Using daily activities like exercise as a hook ensures users find utility once they interact, while solid tokenomics can encourage everyday use and retention.

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The NFT boom brought various altcoin projects into the bull run, with Play-to-Earn, GameFi, and Metaverse products becoming the focus for many. Moreover, some of the greatest performing assets in the last 18 months fit into these categories. Move-to-earn is simply a spin-off of play-to-earn where users gain rewards in cryptocurrencies for playing particular games such as Axie Infinity.

Sweatcoin aims to develop an entire suite of applications based on SWEAT, including NFTs, games, marketplaces, and various platforms, to add utility and interoperability to the token. The team calls this the Sweat Economy, in which the SWEAT token will play a critical role for both users and the company itself.

In the future, the company plans to integrate more tracking tools so that people can use other methods such as cycling or swimming to record their exercise and earn rewards.

While STEPN and Step App made big impressions in the crypto community, they died gradually as new users discovered high entry costs. Both apps require you to buy sneaker NFTs to start earning. Sweatcoin has a different approach — and it’s free.

If you’re looking for the next Spotify, Google, or Amazon on the blockchain, DappRadar can help with our weekly Dapp Trends articles. With so much happening across various categories and verticals, it’s crucial to know which blockchains, dapps, and NFT projects generate value and build audiences for the right reasons.

What is Sweatcoin?

Sweatcoin is a free mobile app on iOS and Android that rewards users’ daily steps with their native currency, known as sweatcoins. Sweatcoins can be converted into SWEAT tokens, spent on in-app products, vouchers, and benefits, or donated charity.

The app automatically counts steps and sends you daily rewards in sweat coins at a rate of 1 coin for every 1,000 steps. For those that have ever used a footstep tracker, you will know that even on a calm day, you can achieve several thousand.

What is SweatWallet?

SweatWallet is a blockchain wallet designed to store users earned SWEAT cryptocurrency. Users can also stake SWEAT to earn a yield within the app. Users must activate the SweatWallet using the menu in the Sweatcoin app. Then, download the SWEAT Wallet in the AppStore or Google PlayStore, and install it on your device.

Note: enabling crypto rewards in the Sweatcoin app should trigger the download of SweatWallet on your device; however, there are times when this is blocked, so please just use this link for android and this one for iOS if you have problems.

DappRadar tracks SweatWallet’s on-chain data from the NEAR blockchain. Showing the number of wallet interactions and transactions gives an overview of how well the application performs. Moreover, it shows how many of the app’s daily users choose to collect SWEAT and not just utilize the in-app currency Sweatcoin.

A quick look at the data shows that Sweat Wallet has attracted and maintained its audience. Over the last 30 days, over 600,000 users connected to Sweat and completed over two million transactions. When writing, its recent performance pushed SweatWallet into the top ten on DappRadar.

Earn money walking around

To earn crypto using Sweatcoin, log in to SweatWallet using the log-in with Sweatcoin option. This will take you to the Sweatcoin app, from which you can authorize access to the wallet, automatically linking your Sweatcoin step counter with the wallet.

The Sweatcoin app will count every step you make and, at the end of each day, pay 1 SWEAT for every 1,000 steps you take. SWEAT can be earned for the first 5,000 steps daily. All further steps are rewarded with sweat coins, which can only be spent in-app and cannot be traded.

SWEAT tokenomics

The token has an unlimited supply, which is not an excellent start for investors looking for a long-term hold. The explanation is that Sweatcoin aims to incentivize movement and exercise forever, which they can only do if they keep rewarding steps with tokens. Moreover, the app seems geared towards adopting crypto and simplifying user onboarding.

However, it cannot be denied the team must mitigate the inflationary aspect by building a long-term scenario where minting SWEAT is more demanding, driving inflation closer to zero.

Looking at the initial token allocations outlined in the whitepaper, we see that the distribution favors the company and its stakeholders. Only a quarter of the initial token supply was destined for the public, while about 75% of the total SWEAT went to the company, private investors, and team members.

One crucial point, however, is that this strategy lends itself nicely to a project that fundamentally wants to give away free crypto. The positive side is that the tokens allocated to the owners, team, and stakeholders have cliff and vesting periods of up to 4 years.

In non-financial terms, those holders won’t receive the total share of their tokens until four years have passed. This prevents the team from dumping tokens on the market, crashing the price, and incentivizes the team to see the project through and realize its rewards.

SWEAT use cases

The platform offers several uses for SWEAT token holders. Firstly, users can stake the token for yield and earn rewards, which are tiered. The more SWEAT staked, the better rewards. Secondly, Sweatcoin is also working on a SWEAT token-based game, bringing gamification, and additional Play-to-Earn functionality in the future.

Additionally, users gain access to premium in-app benefits, such as reducing fees and increasing the daily mint limit. Finally, you can simply take your earned SWEAT and immediately sell it on the open market for other tokens.

Based on today’s market value of SWEAT at $0.04. 5,000 daily steps would earn you 5 SWEAT and about $0.20 per day or around $6 monthly. When the token value is higher, the reward value will be higher. Still, the premise is not for users to be getting rich; it’s to introduce the idea of crypto and blockchain wallets through a medium the user understands.

Is Sweatcoin sustainable?

The most crucial aspect of the Sweat economy, and every crypto project trying to deliver rewards, is sustainability. To be sustainable and either pay users rewards or absorb SWEAT’s inflationary force, Sweatcoin has to generate some revenue. The company claims to do this in several ways:

From Companies (B2B) pay Sweatcoin to access and promote their products and services to their user base.

From users (B2C) through charging transaction fees in the Sweat Wallet app features, including fiat on-ramp, off-ramp, crypto-crypto exchange, NFT purchases, and more.

Why is the revenue significant for the token? Because the money — or value that Sweatcoin promises to pay users has to come from somewhere. Otherwise, rewards are emission-based, which is unsustainable and why many other Move-to-Earn projects have failed in a short time. In SWEAT’s case, revenue is designed to support the token in three ways:

Ecosystem development: Which includes product development, community growth, and partnerships. These aim to drive user growth and further utility for the token.
Buybacks and burns: Sweatcoin will commit a percentage of its revenue to buy and burn SWEAT token on the market or distribute it as a staking yield. Reducing the token supply and mitigating inflation to some extent.

Investment in rewards: Another part of the revenue will fund rewards people request, such as stablecoins, gift cards, and event tickets. This will bring further incentives to hold the token, increasing demand and reducing selling pressure.

What’s the catch?

As with all things crypto and blockchain, it’s essential to look away from the headlines and marketing language to understand the fine print. Download an app, connect a wallet, walk around and earn crypto. Simple right?

However, with SweatCoin, the simple idea outlined in the marketing is what users get. An excellent, easy-to-use iOS or Android app and the ability to earn SWEAT tokens daily.

What’s nice is that the speculative aspect isn’t present, so the dapp is not attracting bounty hunters or yield farmers. Instead, it appears to be achieving its stated mission of onboarding new users into crypto, most importantly, retaining them.

One crucial aspect outlined earlier is that users can only earn SWEAT for the first 5,000 steps daily. All further steps are rewarded with sweat coins, which can only be spent in-app and cannot be traded. One thousand steps equal one SWEAT, so each day, earnings are capped to 5 SWEAT.

Sweatcoin in summary

The Move-to-Earn concept opens countless doors to the mass adoption of Web3 applications and dapps. However, it faces one big hurdle in that it’s just too easy for users to earn cryptocurrencies for walking around. Plus, some savvier users found ways to game the system by placing their phone on their dog, for example.

This led to the vast majority of Move-to-Earn projects failing to live up to the hype. Instead, they manage to fly for a few months, capturing a lot of attention, until the inflation and selling pressure take over and destroy the project.

Sweatcoin has a different approach to the Move-to-Earn economy. They aim to integrate their token into the real-world economy instead of utilizing it as in-game currency like other projects.

Furthermore, everything seems to be on track to keep adding more features and progressing the roadmap. While this brings further demand and utility to the SWEAT token, it remains to be seen if the team can deliver enough to offset its inflationary tokenomics. Sweatcoin seems happy to avoid a speculative crowd looking for fast money. Instead, focus on solving the blockchain user onboarding riddle.

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The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds positions in various cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, and RADAR.