Move-to-earn (M2E) apps are applications that allow you to earn financial rewards just by exercising.
Do you want to get fit and healthy? Of course! Everybody does.
But sadly, not everybody has the motivation to maintain a regular fitness routine let alone live a healthy lifestyle. Why? It’s partly due to the lack of incentives.
Yes, being healthy should be incentivizing enough, but many of us don’t feel that way. This is why M2E is a no-brainer for fitness enthusiasts and workout fiends as it allows them to earn cryptocurrencies, which, by the way, can be converted to cash, by simply doing activities they’ve already been doing.
But for the rest of us sloths, the extra income should help entice us to start our journey to good health. Note that cardiovascular illnesses are the leading cause of death globally, taking as much as 17.9 million lives annually. If M2E apps could decrease this by even 1%, that’s already 179K lives saved.
Therefore, we highly recommend trying any M2E app for the purpose of incentivizing yourself to get fit.
M2E apps come in different variations. Some are free to play while others require you to buy a non-fungible token (NFT) or hold a set amount of their cryptocurrencies in order to start playing. For a more in-depth resource on move-to-earn, see our M2E deep dive.
Table of Contents
STEPN
Stepn is arguably one of today’s top move-to-earn applications powered by the Solana blockchain. Through this app, players never have to walk, jog, and run outdoors without earning again, as they can now directly monetize these physical activities. Notably, it has one of the most intricate long-term sustainability plans among M2E projects and has Scott Dunlap, the VP of Adidas as one of its advisors.
How Can Players Earn?
Before earning from STEPN, players must first purchase a set of NFT Sneakers, so the app can start logging their physical activities. These Sneakers come in four varieties: ‘Walker,’ ‘Jogger,’ ‘Runner, and ‘Trainer,’ which require different intensities of exercises. Furthermore, STEPN also offers three game modes, called ‘Solo Mode,’ ‘Marathon Mode,’ and ‘Background Mode.’ Each variety of shoes and game mode provides players with multiple ways of earning cryptocurrencies from the game.
You may also check our full guide on STEPN.
Where to Purchase Sneakers?
STEPN’s Tokens
STEPN facilitates two tokens, Green Satoshi Token (GST) and Green Metaverse Token (GMT). GST serves as the game’s utility token being used to reward players, while GMT functions as STEPN’s governance token that allows holders to be part of the platform’s governing body.
Where to buy or sell $GMT tokens?
Download STEPN at AppStore or Google PlayStore.
Genopets
Genopets is a Pokemon-inspired M2E application with rich gamified elements powered by the highly secure and scalable Solana blockchain. Gamers can play this for free but have to purchase key in-game assets to fully leverage its benefits. This M2E app is ideal for people who love gamification elements such as virtual pet battles and quests in their fitness routines.
Moreover, it involves pet/monster nurturing, which requires players to feed Genopets with the energy from their physical activities to make them grow.
Each Genopet has 77 levels of upgrades and 12 stages of evolution, and it’s up to the trainers if they have what it takes to bring their pets to the next level (literally).
You may also check our full-blast guide on Genopets.
How Can Players Earn?
Players can start earning by purchasing an in-game asset called “Habitat,” a 3D vivarium home for the Genopets. By purchasing this asset, players can finally trade or sell virtual goods in the game’s marketplace, including upgraded Genopets and digital accessories. Moreover, they can even rent their Habitats to their fellow players.
Where to Purchase Genopets?
You can purchase Genopets and other critical assets such as Habitats, Genotype Crystals, Terraform Seeds and more on marketplaces like Magic Eden and OpenSea.
Genopets Tokens
Genopets have two types of tokens: The ‘KI token’ and the ‘GENE token’. KI serves as the game’s utility token, while GENE is the ecosystem’s governance token.
Where to buy or sell GENE tokens?
Download Genopets at the App Store or Google PlayStore.
Step
Step is BNB Chain’s contender in the increasingly competitive M2E arena. The privacy-focused walk-to-earn application is a straightforward fitness app with light gamification and solely provides cryptos as a reward.
Unlike other gimmicky P2Es and M2Es that offer “exciting” rewards such as physical merchandise and coupons, Step focuses on cryptos to help more people get exposed to blockchain technology. Another thing that differentiates it from other M2Es is its sole focus on walking activities, making it an ideal incentivized fitness app for a broader market.
Also, see our full review of Step.
How Can Players Earn?
To activate the app, players must purchase a minimum of 22,000 STEP tokens or one STEP NFT to let Step log their walks and convert them into tokens.
Players also have the option to invest their STEP tokens in the platform’s health and farm pools and leverage their high annual percentage rate (APR) and annual percentage yield (APY). Moreover, gamers can simply hold their $STEP and wait for its value to rise before selling their tokens.
Where to Purchase STEP NFT?
Where to buy or sell STEP tokens?
Download Step at App Store or Google PlayStore.
DEFIT
Digital Fitness (DEFIT) is a multichain move-to-earn application running on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. (Polygon, by the way, serves as a Layer-2 protocol of Ethereum)
The app, which is also a global community project, aims to create a rich virtual fitness marketplace to offer health enthusiasts a hub that can help improve their well-being. Moreover, it aims to prevent the rise of cardiovascular diseases through its host of fun and exciting challenges.
How Can Players Earn?
For players aiming to be unDEFITable, they can participate in the app’s various game modes, prove what they are made of, and earn DEFIT tokens in the process. DEFIT offers three Solo game modes:
- Free-to-Play,
- Club Member, and
- Web3 Player,
each requiring different levels of involvement from DEFIT players.
The more intensive ‘Challenge Mode,’ meanwhile, involves more serious competitions (including international ones) and offers tokens, physical merchandise, and NFTs. Its challenges include one-to-one competitions with friends and even activities for corporate team-building.
Where to Purchase a DEFIT NFT?
DEFIT’s NFTs are currently in development.
Where to buy or sell DEFIT tokens?
Download DEFIT at AppStore or Google Play Store.
Step App
Step App (not to be confused with BNB Chain’s Step) is an M2E and augmented reality (AR) powered game running on the Avalanche blockchain. The dynamic game aims to create an immersive community where players can socialize, compete, build friendships, and improve their physical well-being.
Through its exciting digital incentives, it aims to encourage users (especially the couch-loving ones) to spend more time on physical activities such as walking, running, and jogging. Usain Bolt, dubbed as the fastest man alive, is the newest advocate of the Step App platform, and more high-profile athletes may also come soon.
How Can Players Earn?
Players can initiate a ‘Staked Play’ or a ‘Tournament Gaming’ to prove their competitiveness, climb on the leaderboard, and earn tokens.
Staked Play is a running competition where players must stake their FITFI governance tokens. Tournament Gaming, meanwhile, is a bigger competition, where players can bring their step count records to the regional and global level. Players will need to purchase a ticket to fund the tournament’s prize pool.
Apart from participating in competitions, players can also earn from staking tokens or liquidity pool (LP) tokens which can unlock valuable SNEAK shoes and avatar skins. Players can also earn KCAL tokens by staking their SNEAK while running at the same time.
The platform also offers “Perpetual Staking,” which allows the community to access the newest earning opportunities on Step App, including drops, yields, loot boxes, and more through “event loops.”
In other words, players don’t need to re-stake repeatedly as staking immediately transfers to the newest available event, hence the name “perpetual” stake. It’s a one-time stake that allows players to continuously access potentially lucrative earning opportunities within the platform.
Step App Tokens
Step App offers two types of tokens called ‘KCAL’ and ‘FITFI.’ KCAL serves as its in-game token to be used as a reward for players while ‘FITFI’ functions as the game’s governance token.
Where to buy or sell FITFI?
- Gate.io
- Huobi Global
- KuCoin
- MEXC Global
- ByBit
- A complete list can be found here…
Download Step App on this link.
beFitter
beFitter is a promising M2E application running on the Binance Application Sidechain (BAS). The gamified fitness app aims to offer mental, physical, and monetary benefits for millions of players worldwide.
How Can Players Earn?
Like most M2Es, players must first purchase a set of NFT shoes before they can log their physical activities on the app.
Walking, running, and cycling are some of the things that players can do to generate cryptos in beFitter. It also allows gamers to purchase an accompanying NFT pet to increase rewards. Furthermore, it would soon release a sleep-to-earn feature, which can potentially be a hit for many dozy players!
As for the game modes, beFitter offers four variants:
- Solo,
- With Pet,
- 1 vs.1, and
- Tournament,
which can accommodate players’ varying challenge appetites. And, of course, the harder the challenge, the higher rewards they can earn. Players may also rent out their shoes to generate more profits on top of their growing earnings.
If they want their tokens to do some ‘workouts,’ players may also stake their tokens into one of beFitter’s pools.
beFitter Tokens
beFitter hosts two tokens called FIU and HEE tokens. FIU token serves as the game’s social and governance token, which players can earn from challenges, staking, and activating pet mode.
HEE token, meanwhile, allows players to mint, upgrade, and repair their virtual shoes. Players can earn this token from game modes.
Where to buy or sell FIU and HEE tokens?
FIU Token
- Gate.io
- Huobi Global
- MEXC Global
- ByBit
- A full list can be found here.
HEE Token
Download beFitter at App Store or Google PlayStore.
OliveX
OliveX is a fitness-based web3 platform that runs on the Ethereum and Polygon networks. It aims to create an immersive AR metaverse that could help millions achieve a balanced and healthier lifestyle.
What’s exciting about OliveX is that it wasn’t created just to offer a single game. It was established to be a hub for M2E games that are set to engage players in physical activities. In fact, one of its main goals is to develop and invest in various M2E games to create an interoperable metaverse for active people.
You can check our previous article on how interoperable (connected) virtual worlds can change gaming forever.
How Can Players Earn?
It currently hosts two dynamic games called ’Dustland Runner’ and ’Dustland Rider,’ which reward players with $DOSE tokens for their physical activities.
Let’s take a look at how these two games work:
‘Dustland Runner’ is dubbed as the ‘world’s first move-to-earn audio fitness blockchain game.’ As the name suggests, the game focuses on players’ running activities, and the more in-game missions they accomplish, the more rewards they can acquire. Moreover, it provides rewards based on distance, and not on players’ performance.
‘Dustland Rider,’ meanwhile, is the ‘world’s first ride-to-earn web3 game’. It is a unique fitness game where players’ bikes act as their main controllers. The game requires a smartphone and a smart bike to function properly, but they may also use street bikes to play the game. Please check Dustland Riders’ guidelines for the proper bike setup.
OliveX Token ($DOSE)
$DOSE Token is OliveX ecosystem’s central token, which powers game built on it, including Dustland Runner and Rider. It is an ERC-20 fungible token that players can use to buy NFTs, unlock new items, and join different game modes.
Where to buy or sell $DOSE tokens?
- KuCoin
- Huobi Global
- Gate.io
- MEXC Global
- A full list can be found here.
Walken
Walken is a high-potential M2E project that leverages the scalability and security features of the Solana blockchain. It aims to offer players an opportunity to make a living out of playing through incentivized physical activities.
How Can Players Earn?
Players must use their ‘CAThletes’ NFTs and increase their walking activities to participate in different battles and accumulate more tokens. By walking more, players can generate new gems that can upgrade their virtual characters and increase their chances of winning in every battle.
Note that 1,000 steps are equal to 1 gem.
Where to buy or sell CAThletes?
CAThletes can be purchased on Walken’s Marketplace on the app (download below).
Walken Tokens
WLKN is the sole token of the Walken ecosystem, which players can gain through different quests or direct purchases from DEXs.
Where to buy or sell $WALKN?
Download Walken at AppStore or Google PlayStore.
VicMove
VicMove is an M2E app that rewards players for their walking, running, and cycling activities. It runs on the Ethereum and Polygon networks and will soon support the Solana chain.
Like most gamified fitness trackers, it utilizes GPS, gyroscope, and motion sensors to provide accurate data on players’ performance.
How Can Players Earn?
Players must first mint a set of NFT sneakers to earn cryptocurrencies from their activities. Moreover, they can fuse two different shoes to gain more advanced sneakers that can help them generate more rewards. They also have the option to spend their cryptos on in-game tasks or cash them out for real-world expenses.
Every set of sneakers has a limited “daily energy,” and once this battery drains out, players won’t be able to use their virtual shoes to earn cryptos.
VicMove Token ($VIM)
$VIM is the governance token and sole currency of the VicMove ecosystem.
Where to Buy or sell $VIM?
Download VicMove at AppStore or Google PlayStore.
Menzy
Menzy is an AI-powered M2E application built on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike other M2E apps, it utilizes a smartphone’s camera (apart from its GPS and pedometer) to measure and reward players’ performance.
How Can Players Earn?
‘MENZY Move’ and ‘MENZY Step’ are the two major ways where players can earn $MNZ tokens from their movements.
MENZY Move is an intensive way of generating tokens, where gamers must participate in competitions and prove their physical strength.
MENZY Step, meanwhile, is the simpler method of earning $MNZ tokens, where players are only required to do simple walking and running activities. In fact, there’s no need to own NFTs in this mode just to earn tokens!
Menzy Token ($MNZ)
MNZ Token is the sole token of the Menzy ecosystem and is used mainly for rewards and bonus programs. Players can also use it to purchase merchandise from global sports brands, such as Puma and Nike.
Where to Buy and sell $MNZ?
The Menzy app will soon be released on the App Store and Google PlayStore.
The Bottomline
Move-to-earn, walk-to-earn, exercise-to-earn; whatever we may call this trend these days, bring value to the world by incentivizing people to stay healthy. But the problem arises when people expect to gain something beyond the added motivation to exercise. Like “getting rich”, for instance.
There may be instances where some users are able to earn upwards of around $300 or more per day, but this usually happens during crypto market bull runs, where the prices of tokens just shoot up due to investor buying frenzy. But this is almost never sustainable, and M2E apps eventually find ‘ground’, in which the earnings are not really high enough to replace your work income, but perhaps good enough to motivate you to stay healthy.
Spending 30 minutes running and earning around $5 per day may not be a big deal for everyone, but it adds up the more you do it. As long as you do it primarily for your health and not the money, your motivation level will be maintained. If you think of exercise as ‘work’ instead of a journey towards health, it’s more likely that you’ll lose interest.
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