STEPN has 1 Active User, Down From 1 Million in April
Popular move-to-earn app STEPN has just one daily active user (DAU), down from 1 million daily active users during its peak time in April.
According to data by DappRadar, STEPN has seen a steep decline in the number of its active users, down by more than 99.99% compared to its all-time high.
The move-to-earn app currently has merely one active user. Furthermore, data by DappRadar shows STEPN had just one transaction over the past 24 hours and literally “$0” in volume. The app has only 121 BNB, worth around $17k, worth of assets in its smart contracts.
What is STEPN?
Based on Ethereum competitor Solana and created by app developer FindSatoshi Lab, STEPN is a smartphone app that allows users to earn money by walking, jogging, or running over a narrowly defined period of time that is updated every 24 hours. .
Rewards come in STEPN’s native cryptocurrency, Green Satoshi Token or GST, and are credited to a wallet created in-game or imported externally. Players need to start by purchasing a pair of NFT shoes to play, then they can increase the amount of GST earned per session by upgrading their shoes.
The sneakers, which are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and can be traded on secondary markets, already command high prices, ranging from $400 to $100,000.
The Meteoric Rise of STEPN
The price of GMT tokens shot up more than 1,900% from March to May. The cost of the STEPN shoes was as high as $1,200. The high cost of entry was justified because some users reported earning more than $1,200 daily.
The craze for STEPN and GMT was such that some runners in China offered substitute races to win GMT in exchange for a commission. STEPN announced $122.5 million in earnings for the second quarter of 2022.
Gradually, things began to go downhill for STEPN. The cost to mint a new sneaker is around $4 now, according to Dune. Third quarter earnings for STEPN are down 90% from the second quarter. Recently, STEPN started laying off staff.
STEPN Popularity Drops Amid Crypto Downturn
The crash of the Terra LUNA ecosystem in May had a domino effect and pushed the entire crypto market into a bear market. The price of Solana, GST and GMT also plummeted.
STEPN users’ earnings decreased, causing users to flee. Even those who had STEPN in their daily routine keep going. Users also find tokenomics responsible for the decline. It is structured in a way that they will have to sell their tokens on the market to claim their rewards. When they sell their tokens, the supply increases, causing the token price to decrease.
Users are criticizing STEPN’s game economy when comparing it to Web2 games. They believe that the team is not focused on making the game fun.
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