Can you truly walk your way to riches?
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What if earning money was as simple as going outside?
Sweatcoin was founded three years ago by entrepreneurs Oleg Fomenko and Anton Derlyatka with the goal of becoming a global digital currency backed by the economic value of movement - essentially walking or running.
They now have ambitious plans for users in the United Kingdom to be able to pay their council tax simply by walking.
Sweatcoin claims to be the fastest-growing health and fitness app in history, with over 30 million users rewarded for walking and running. Currency accepted by vendor partners such as Boohoo and Sky Founders claims app users increase their step count by 20% over six months.
Sweatcoin, which debuted in 2016, allows users to earn money simply by walking around outside.
'We wanted to create something that was constantly engaging, easy to understand, intuitive, and didn't require a lot of understanding,' says Anton.
Oleg's obsession with blockchain aided in the conversion of steps to coins. Then you can spend it right away with approximately 300 vendor partners.'The app, which has 30 million users, 65 percent of whom are in the United States, can be downloaded onto smartphones.
In the United Kingdom, vendors accepting the 'currency' include telecom giant Sky, food box service Hellofresh, and fashion website Boohoo.
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It takes a lot of walking to earn just one Sweatcoin.
One thousand steps equal 0.95 Sweatcoins, and the average person takes between 3,000 and 4,000 steps per day, according to the National Health Service, so you'd typically get two to three Sweatcoins.
This cuts marathon offers,' which are essentially attractive rewards, explained further down the article, out of reach for the average person for several years.
There have also been reports that the app drains the phone's battery. Sweatcoin has a battery-saver mode that helps to conserve battery life, but it warns that by using this feature,' some steps will be lost.'
In the United Kingdom, the app also does not include hundreds of vendors in its marketplace section, instead offering four options under the 'offers for today' section.
As a result, some argue that it's not worth using the app and draining your battery. There is also a limit to how much Sweatcoin you can generate in a day, which is five in the free version. It means that if you walk any further, you will not earn any currency.
You can change models, but as you move up the pricing ladder, you'll have to give up more Sweatcoin (see right). Oleg claims the cap is there to protect him from injury. 'We want to discourage people from participating in marathons.'
'People who run marathons every day will be unhealthy. The cap does not affect a large number of people. 'We don't want people to jump off a couch and run an ultramarathon because it could cause injury and prevents cheating.'
'As you can imagine, there are a lot of people attempting to hack the algorithm and fake their steps.
'However, it's very difficult to do because it's been designed so that it can't be tampered with.'
Users are not immune to being conned. While testing the app, we were 'invited' by another user to send 100 Sweatcoin in exchange for 200 Sweatcoin.
When confronted with the 'invitation,' the Sweatcoin founders stated, 'We have a very strict policy on banning users who try to approach others in this manner.'
'We've contacted the user, and if it's a scam, they'll be banned immediately.'
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Are the offers reasonable?
The offers are updated every day. We could convert our Sweatcoins in the following ways at the time of writing:
- 7.99 Sweatcoin = 50% off Little by Little Jewellery A quick visit to the Little by Little Jewellery website and filtering 'low to high' reveals that products begin at £40, implying that you'd have to spend at least £20 to purchase something from this online store.
- - A 60-day subscription to Scribd, which sells books and audiobooks for $11.99.
- - 5.99 Sweatcoin for a free day pass to any Payasyougym partner.
- - A free three-month My Spa Pass for 4.99 Sweatcoin.
Sweatcoin also has marathon offers,' which require you to have earned tens of thousands of Sweatcoin to redeem the prize. Among the current marathon specials are:
- - A 20,000 Sweatcoin iPhone XS
- - A Samsung Curved TV for 20,000 Sweatcoins
- - $1,000 cash in exchange for 20,000 Sweatcoins
- - A £1,000 Thomas Cook Holidays voucher in exchange for 20,000 Sweatcoins
Some users argue that with the caps in place, earning an iPhone or a Curved Samsung TV would take years (see our calculations below).
How long would it take you to earn a 'marathon prize' with Sweatcoin?
Sweatcoin currently has several marathon offers that would cost a user 20,000 Sweatcoins, as revealed above.
How long would it take you to earn these prizes if you maxed out each cap on Sweatcoin's various pricing models? This is Money ran the numbers, and here's what we discovered:
Mover (free version): 11.6 years to the marathon prize. This is due to the cap, which allows you to earn only 150 Sweatcoin per month. Shaker (monthly cost of 4.75 SWC): 5.7 years to the marathon prize.
This is based on a monthly cap of 300 Sweatcoin minus the monthly charge of 4.75 Sweatcoin.
Quaker (monthly fee of 20 SWC): 3.9 years to the marathon prize. This is based on a monthly cap of 450 Sweatcoins and a monthly charge of 20 Sweatcoins. Breaker (monthly fee of 30 SWC): Time to win the marathon: just under three years (2.93).
This is based on a monthly cap of 600 Sweatcoins and a monthly charge of 30 Sweatcoins).
This demonstrates that the marathon prizes are not easily accessible through steps alone, especially if you only use the free version. Sweatcoin, on the other hand, claims that the prizes can be obtained in 24 months through steps and invites (see right).
However, on the free version alone, you'd have to send out thousands of invites (each worth five Sweatcoin) to cut the time it takes to win the prize down to a year.
Will the Sweatcoin concept last?
However, Oleg believes that such rewards should be earned fairly:
'How many companies will give you an iPhone just for walking?'
'We're transforming walking from a nuisance to something with economic value.'
'It would take some time [to earn it], but is it fair to earn an iPhone in, say, two weeks?'
'You can get other prizes, and we're still proud of what we offer because it causes our users to move more.'
'We know we won't please everyone.'
It's not easy to earn big prizes, but it's helped motivate some people to exercise more.
Some, of course, take it to its logical conclusion. One user admitted to spending nearly an entire day generating 100,000 steps, which equates to roughly 50 miles of walking.
Many apps, such as PokemonGo, have been released in the past to encourage people to exercise outside and have used gamification to provide incentives, but the hype has not lasted.
The founders explain that they are not interested in short-term hype.
Instead, they want to develop a long-term model.
'PokemonGo was hugely successful, but only for six weeks,' Anton explains. We want to encourage ongoing participation.'
With the prospect of paying council tax and other types of bills - and the company's ongoing discussions with London councils - the model may eventually be adopted by more users.
Sweatcoin pricing models
Sweatcoin also generates revenue by encouraging users to upgrade to 'paid' memberships.
Mover: Under the free membership model, users can only earn five Sweatcoins per day, which is roughly 5,000 steps (remember you lose some steps because of the commission structure). The monthly limit is 150 Sweatcoin.
Shaker: Upgrading to the next membership model allows you to earn up to 300 Sweatcoin per month or 10 Sweatcoin per day, but it costs 4.75 Sweatcoin per month.
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Quaker: This allows you to earn up to 15 Sweatcoins per day or 450 Sweatcoins per month for a monthly fee of 20 Sweatcoins.
Breaker: This model allows you to earn 20 Sweatcoins per day or 600 Sweatcoins per month for a monthly fee of 30 Sweatcoins.
They do have a 'Trouble Maker' model, but the pricing model has not been revealed at the time of writing.
4 ways to get more Sweatcoin
Sweatcoin is not only generated by taking steps or going for a run. You can also get them by doing the following:
- 1. Involve the family: If you're not willing (or able) to go outside and walk, encourage the kids or your partner to go outside with your phone and generate some steps.
Sweatcoin's creators allow this because they don't care who generates the steps. Just don't go out with two phones loaded with the app; that's considered cheating.
- 2. Watch advertisements: Watching advertisements will also earn you more Sweatcoin.
- 3. Persuade others to give you some: Sweatcoin can be sent and received, allowing it to be exchanged between friends and family.
- If your children want money, why not have them generate some steps for you or do some chores in exchange for Sweatcoin?
- 4. Invite your friends: If you invite your friends, you will receive five Sweatcoin.
Breaker: This model allows you to earn 20 Sweatcoin a day or 600 Sweatcoin a month - all of which costs 30 Sweatcoin a month.
Pricing models for Sweatcoin
Sweatcoin also generates revenue by encouraging users to upgrade to 'paid' memberships. Mover: Under the free membership model, users can only earn five Sweatcoins per day, which is roughly 5,000 steps (remember you lose some steps because of the commission structure). The monthly limit is 150 Sweatcoin.
Shaker: Upgrading to the next membership model allows you to earn up to 300 Sweatcoin per month or 10 Sweatcoin per day, but it costs 4.75 Sweatcoin per month.
Quaker: This allows you to earn up to 15 Sweatcoins per day or 450 Sweatcoins per month for a monthly fee of 20 Sweatcoins. Breaker: This model allows you to earn 20 Sweatcoins per day or 600 Sweatcoins per month for a monthly fee of 30 Sweatcoins.
They do have a 'Trouble Maker' model, but the pricing model has not been revealed at the time of writing.
