By James Davis
Sweatcoin is a blockchain-based app that offers users a chance to earn crypto by simply participating in physical activities such as running or walking. By rewarding people who exercise, the team behind Sweatcoin hopes to encourage healthy lifestyles. This guide seeks to explore the app’s features and how it works.
What is Sweatcoin?
Sweatcoin adopts the move-to-earn concept to reward users with its native token, SWEAT, after attaining a certain number of steps. This token can be swapped for a range of prizes. Users can also use SWEAT to buy goods and services on the in-app marketplace.
Sweatcoin launched in 2014 but gained popularity in 2021 when play-to-earn games were also booming. As of May 2023, the app boasts about 100 million users.
Sweatcoin Founders
Sweatcoin was founded by four Russian entrepreneurs, including Egor Khmelevl, Danil Perushev, Oleg Fomenko, and Anton Derlyatka. According to Fomenko, the app came into existence after they realized that people lack the motivation to engage in physical activities. The founders believed offering rewards was the only option to keep people physically active.
Sweatcoin has over 100 employees. So far, it has raised $13.5 million in funding from various investors, including Polkadot founder Bjorn Wagner, Civic founder Vinny Linghma, Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal, Spartan Capital, Electric Capital, Near Foundation, and GSR.
The Sweatcoin Roadmap
Last year, Sweatcoin founders released the roadmap of the project, which indicated the goals they intend to achieve by 2024. According to the document, Sweatcoin plans to launch an NFT-powered game, establish a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), and expand SWEAT, which currently lives on Near and Ethereum, to more blockchains.
How Does Sweatcoin Work?
For every 1,000 steps, users earn one SWEAT. After accumulating several SWEAT tokens, users can exchange them for various perks like gift cards, fitness equipment, exercise classes and athletic footwear. Note that a 5% fee is incurred when swapping steps into SWEAT tokens. That becomes part of Sweatcoin’s revenue. The app also charges a fee for merchants wishing to feature on the marketplace.
Sweatcoin Features
Sweatcoin has multiple features that make it stand out from its competitors. They include:
Healthy Lifestyle
Sweatcoin uses a unique algorithm to gather data from users’ mobile phones to determine the number of steps walked within a particular timeframe. British Journal of Sports Medicine has praised the team behind the app for promoting sustainable physical exercise behavior.
Charity Campaigns
Sweatcoin hosts charitable campaigns weekly. The app sets a certain number of steps to be attained within seven days and asks interested users to join the challenge and collectively work toward reaching that target. Once the mission is achieved, Sweatcoin converts those steps into SWEAT and donates the tokens to various charities.
Privacy-Oriented App
Unlike many apps, Sweatcoin does not sell user information to other companies in order to generate profits. Therefore, users can be assured that their data won’t be leaked to third parties when they sign up with Sweatcoin.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Sweatcoin
Every app has its own pros and cons. Here are the benefits and limitations that you can expect when using Sweatcoin.
Pros
Excellent compatibility: We are in an era where almost every adult owns a smartphone. To ensure everyone is physically active, Sweatcoin has built an app that runs on both Android and iOS devices.
Free to use: Sweatcoin does not charge users for using its app, unlike many of its rivals.
User-friendly: Users need zero to little guidance to navigate the Sweatcoin app as it is well-designed and easy to use.
Referral program: Along with earning tokens through exercising, Sweatcoin rewards users who onboard their friends to the app.
Cons
Modest payouts: Do not expect to replace your day job with earnings from Sweatcoin, as the rewards are usually small.
No indoor step tracking: Sweatcoin’s activity tracker doesn’t count steps made inside users’ homes, thus necessitating outdoor exercises.
Daily earning cap: A user can only earn 10 SWEAT tokens a day. However, they can pay $5 monthly to remove the cap.