Step App: Stay active with the newest Move-to-Earn NFT Game in the FitFi arena

Step App is the most recent Web 3 project the team at Kairon Labs has been working on. We’re excited to be sharing the perks of this pioneering blockchain fitness app with our community.Finding the motivation to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle is difficult, especially when it feels like an extra item on your to-do list.But what if there was a way to gamify your daily run or walk and get rewarded for your effort? That’s where Step App, the latest Move-to-Earn NFT game and first AR metaverse in the Fitness Finance (FitFi) industry, comes in to help you stay on track with your exercise goals. Boasting over 80k pre-registrations and a team of advisors featuring big names in the blockchain space, the app builds on the success of popular Move-to-Earn projects like STEPN. This app, in particular, has gathered an impressive user base of crypto enthusiasts, NFT collectors, and non-crypto natives taking their first step in the Web 3 world in just a few months from its launch.Whether it’s a morning walk in the park with your dog or your daily jogging or running session with your partner, Step App allows you to monetize the healthy habits you already have or you’re trying to build while socializing and competing with friends or strangers in your local area or around the world.Before we jump into Step App’s key functionalities and token economy, let’s take a quick look at the main differences between the Play-to-Earn gaming phenomenon and the new Move-to-Earn model.

Play-to-Earn vs. Move-to-Earn: What’s the difference and where is blockchain gaming headed?

Aside from attracting a record number of users, blockchain-based games secured over $4 billion in investments last year, according to the BGA Blockchain Game Report 2021 from Dapp Radar. The investors’ increasing interest in this category together with the innovative in-game mechanics and emerging economic models are expected to continue to drive growth and new user adoption in the upcoming months of 2022. Play-to-Earn (P2E) games like the famous Axie Infinity built on the Ethereum blockchain use tokens and in-game assets to reward the players’ gameplay when leveling up, completing quests, or winning battles and tournaments. As part of the GameFi ecosystem, players can earn a steady crypto income by staking or farming their in-game tokens and minting tradeable NFTs. While most Move-to-Earn (M2E) apps keep some elements of their P2E counterparts like Player versus Player (PvP) competitions, gaming tournaments, and collectible NFTs, they use geolocation technology to track the players’ steps in the real world. The step count is then being used to financially reward players for their physical activity, thus promoting healthy lifestyles among users. Overall, the positive social impact of M2E apps and their efficiency in supporting employee wellness programs and reducing health insurance costs for active individuals might increase their potential to achieve a wider market than P2E games.

How Step App works: key features and functionalities

Image source: Step AppStep App is a community-owned Move-to-Earn game built on the eponymous Step Protocol. The app works as a gamified metaverse where NFTs (SNEAK) and digital avatars combine seamlessly with exercise. Avatars are customizable by purchasing or unlocking skins and are visible on the public map and the main leaderboard to in-app friends.Step App aims to incentivize people to stay active — whether it’s running, jogging, or walking — through engaging Web 3 gaming elements, immersive augmented reality technology, and in-game token and NFT rewards. Users get instant access to a digital community that motivates them to show up for their daily exercise sessions and be accountable for their fitness progress. The app also allows players to enter friendly PVP matches with people from their local area or other countries around the world, a functionality called tournament gaming. Players who enter a tournament compete with their step count and get the chance to unlock unique skins and appear on a dedicated leaderboard. To participate in a tournament, each user is required to pay for a ticket. The total value of those tickets gets stored in a prize pool that will be distributed among the tournament winners.Step App also acts as a robust network for the fitness influencers and professional athletes selected to be global brand ambassadors of the app, the Step Protocol, and Step Metaverse. While working on onboarding major players from the fitness industry, the Step App team uses their network to acquire IP and branding rights from international brands whose fan bases might consider joining the Step Metaverse.

Start earning with Step App: game and token economy explained

Image source: Step AppStep App is a dual token system that uses strategies like staking, locks, liquidity incentives, buybacks, and burns to create a balanced economy. The project’s IDO is to be held on DAO Maker, the leading launchpad for cryptocurrency projects, the total supply of tokens amounting to 5 billion.Step App’s play income comes from several revenue streams, including:

• trading NFTs in the native NFT marketplace (2,5% fee of all NFT transactions)
• selling limited edition NFTs
• micro-transactions involving avatar skins, SNEAK skins, map styles, and similar
• staked play with FITFI tokens (2,5% fee on the winning staking pool)
• tournament gaming (5% of accrued participation ticket fees)

FITFI token value

FITFI is the governance token that grants voting power to its users and is staked to earn a percentage of the app and NFT trading fees. Almost 50% of all NFT trading fees are available as staking rewards. At the same time, 50% of NFT trading fees are repurchased on the market and the DAO can vote to burn them.The Step App project uses 50% of the play income to repurchase FITFI tokens already on the market. Almost 50% of the market-bought tokens are distributed as rewards to stakers. Also, governance votes can be used to burn up to 50% of bought-back tokens. Staking governance tokens involves a 10-day cooldown period before users can unstake their tokens. Withdrawing staked FITFI tokens before the end of that period will incur a 12% fee on the principal stake. If users stake both FITFI and LP tokens, they can unlock certain SNEAKs and avatar skins. Plus, LP tokens get a 50% higher weight in staking rewards.

KCAL token value

KCAL is the utility token burned in the purchase and maintenance of SNEAK NFTs and earned by staking SNEAKs while running. The KCAL users earn by staking SNEAKs is released in a 10-day epoch. Unstaking the NFTs before the end of that period will burn the pending KCAL tokens.

Meet the team behind Step App

Step App is the end product of the brilliant work of highly talented people across the Web 3 ecosystem. Winners of ETH Waterloo, the most competitive hackathon for ETH-based Dapps, have led the app development process. Ex-Niantic engineers were also involved in the AR development for the Step Metaverse. Niantic is the software development company behind popular AR mobile games like Pokémon Go and Ingress.The core team of Step App includes Kirill Volgin, Dmitry Gordeychuk, and Robert Vukosa.

Ex-CFO at Zerion (industry-leading DeFi tracker and asset management tool), Kirill Volgin has also launched several crypto projects like the Tokenary wallet, the first open-source NFT wallet with Safari extension. Before that, he founded and ran Jufy Projects, a software development company with over 100 successful projects.

Dmitry Gordeychuk is a DeFi pioneer and Blockchain Lead at Symbiosis Finance, a multi-chain liquidity protocol backed by companies such as Binance Labs, Blockchain.com, Amber, and Spartan. He has 5 years of experience in blockchain development.

Robert Vukosa has over 10 years of experience in the traditional finance sector. His activity includes designing policies, overseeing customer service, and implementing technology solutions.

Who are the partners and advisors involved in this project?

These are the first advisors announced already on Step App’s official website.

Dharpan Randhawa is a sports industry veteran and ex-SVP for the Asia-Pacific division of McLaren Racing. He runs Talisman, an award-winning brand partnership agency that has worked with massive brands like Formula 1, Google, FTX, and Unilever. He will manage Step App’s brand partnerships and athlete brand ambassador collaborations.

Hatu Sheikh is the co-founder of DAO Maker, the launchpad behind innovative blockchain projects like Orion Protocol, My Neighbour Alice, Infinity Pad, and NFT Trade. Hatu will advise this project on token utilities and marketing.

Our CEO, Jens Willemen, will lead the crypto market making strategy for the Step App. He has worked with more than 200 token projects up until now, including metaverse companies such as Everdome, Animoca Brands, and Seedify.

Step App’s networking is managed by Tim Innvutt, the co-founder of BTC Inc (Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin 2022 conference), co-founder at Zerion, and advisor at Qtum.

What to look forward to

Step App’s beta version will be launched in the second quarter of 2022, followed by the NFT market launch and IP and brand partnership announcements towards the end of the year.If you’ve missed the STEPN bandwagon, now’s your chance to be among the first Step App adopters and enjoy the latest Move-to-Earn project in the FitFi space at a low entry price point. Simply go to Step App’s website and register your email account for more exciting news to come.Also, don’t forget to join Step App’s Telegram channel to be part of the conversation around one of the most exciting projects disrupting the blockchain gaming industry.