About the author
Bill Xing is head of financial products at crypto derivatives trading platform Bybit.
Stepn is on a massive “run” this year, if you’ll pardon the pun. The app that rewards users with crypto tokens for walking, jogging, or running has inaugurated a new genre of game called “move-to-earn.” The game’s utility token Green Satoshi (GST) and governance token STEPN (GMT) can be traded for Solana’s native token (SOL) or the USDC stablecoin. Early adopters of the game were keen to share their fun and boast about their profits, with some claiming to earn $200 per day by exercising outside.
The price of GST started climbing March (you can’t yet earn GMT through the app) amid the first wave of Stepn hype, and peaked at around $8 in late April before crashing along with the rest of crypto market. The price fell further upon news of Stepn blocking users in China, and is currently trading around $0.18, a 97% drop from its April 28 high.
A glut of GST tokens has also been a factor in the recent price decline. As our insights team at Bybit has noted, the circulating supply of GST swelled from 20,000 to nearly 50,000 in May.
Meanwhile, a look at the tokenomics of Stepn reveals that, like most play-to-earn (P2E) games, it adopts a cyclical structure—first nudging users to earn in-game tokens, then pushing them to spend more to rack up more in the future. New Stepn players must first invest in NFT sneakers, and are then encouraged to earn in-game tokens that…
