How much money can you earn in STEPN?

Technology | July 26, 2022

STEPN logo screengrab from their website www.step.com

STEPN is marketed as a lifestyle app that rewards users everytime they move either by walking, jogging or running. But it is not that simple, as you need to use it with NFT sneakers. You might be asking, what is NFT?

According to Investopedia, Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata. It is like an asset that you can own in the digital world and cannot be replicated, thus making it unique.

In order to earn money from STEPN, you need to buy an NFT sneakers from their marketplace.

How it works?

You can buy STEPN's NFT sneakers using crypto currency, a digital currency in which transactions are processed within a decentralized system. You can obtain crypto currency by trading your fiat or traditional money, like the US dollar or Philippine peso, in crypto trading platform like Coinbase or Binance. Currently, there are 3 crypto currencies that you can use to buy NFT sneakers in STEPN: Solana, BNB and APE coin (Etherium).

You need to own any of these 3 crypto currencies in order to buy NFT sneakers. Once you have NFT sneakers, STEPN will then reward you with a token called GST or GMT everytime you walk, run or jog. These tokens can then be traded to other crypto currency and eventually to fiat money or traditional currency.

Where to start?

First, you need to download the STEPN application from Google Play or Appstore. You might also need to download Discord to join the STEPN community there, so you can get an activation code needed in setting-up your STEPN account. You can follow the steps mentioned here to sign-up to the STEPN app.

As mentioned earlier, you can use 3 types of crypto to transact in STEPN. For me, I am using Solana to buy my NFT sneakers in STEPN. You can buy Solana (Sol) from trading platforms like Coinbase and Binance. You might also want to download any of these apps to get started. Make sure you are already familiar in using these platforms before starting anything.

Once you have set-up an account in STEPN, you will also need to set-up a wallet within the app. STEPN has two different wallets, one is the spending wallet and the other is the main wallet. The spending wallet is used for transactions you make within the STEPN app like buying sneakers, gems or other items sold in the STEPN marketplace. The other wallet is used to transact outside of the STEPN app like when moving your earned tokens back to Coinbase or Binance.

Browsing NFT Sneakers

Before you transfer anything to your STEPN wallet, I suggest that you browse first the prices of the NFT sneakers sold in their marketplace. To do this, go to STEPN app and click the push cart button at the bottom right corner.

Browse the NFT sneaker portfolio and find the one that you want to buy. You can click on the sneaker's photo to see the sneaker's info including their attributes, type and quality which are some of the main factors that you need to consider in buying an NFT sneaker.

Type of Sneakers

STEPN sneakers are classified into 4 types: Walker, Jogger, Runner and Trainer. Walker maintains a speed of 1-6 km/hr and this is the one I currently have because I do not jog or run frequently.

At optimal speed, walker type sneaker allows me to earn around 4 GST but with a good efficiency attribute my earnings increases up to 5-6 GST/energy. See below table so you can decide what type of sneaker is best for yourself. If you like to run or jog frequently, you should buy the jog or running type sneakers otherwise, you can just select the walker type.

Sneaker Classifictions

Aside from those 4 classifications, there are also 5 types of sneakers based on quality: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. The higher the quality type of the sneaker the higher also the earnings.

However, the quality of the sneaker is also one of the major factors affecting its prices. For instance, Epic and Legendary sneakers tend to be a lot more expensive than the common and uncommon type. All of my sneakers are of common type as they are the only type I can afford at the moment.

Sneaker type is also one factor to affect the amount of energy that you can get. One common type sneaker will provide you 2 energy equivalent to 10 minutes of movement. You can go to STEPN's whitepaper to learn more about energy.

Sneaker Attributes

The four main attributes of each sneakers are Efficiency, Luck, Comfort and Resilience. The higher the values of these attributes the better they can contribute to your earnings and health of your NFT sneakers. Efficiency is attributed to GST earnings, a token that can be traded to other crypto. Luck is attributed to mystery boxes that holds random items like GST, GMT, Minting Scroll, Gems etc. Comfort is attributed to to GMT earning, another token that you can trade to other crypo currency. Resilience is attributed to the durability of the sneaker.

You need to select your sneakers wisely and should take high considerations on these 4 attributes. Other factors that you also need to consider are the Gem sockets. Every sneaker has gem sockets that will boost a specific attribute. For instancem, a gem socket E will boost efficiency once it is unlock, R is resilience, C is comfort and L is luck. As for me, I selected a sneaker that has a balance attributes with E and R gem sockets.

Everytime you level up, you can have 4 points that you can delegate to any of these attributes thereby increasing their values. Also, you can only start earning GMT when you reach level 30. For now, levels below 30 only allowed for GST earnings. So you need to strategized carefully in order to have fast ROI. Leveling up will also cost you GST and GMT. So you need to really strategize. Remember this is a game!

STEPN also introduced a new rule in the game called HP points that determines the health of your sneakers. Comfort attribute is associated with HP points so that means the higher the comfort, the slower the HP points will go down. You can read more about STEPN's gameplay here.

Buying Your First Sneaker

If you have already decided which NFT sneaker to buy you can now go back to coinbase to transfer the amount of Sol to complete your pruchase. Transferring Sol from Coinbase to STEPN's main wallet is easy. In Coinbase, go to 'Pay' and select 'Send' (ensure that you have selected Sol as Coinbase offers a lot of cryptos that you can trade). Then, enter the amount that you want to send.

In the 'To' field, enter the wallet address of your STEPN's main wallet and then continue with the sending. Now you already have the needed Sol in your STEPN's main wallet. You cannot still use it in STEPN's ecosystem because you need to transfer this amount to your spending wallet.

In your STEPN's main wallet, click on "Transfer" then "To Spending"; select Sol in the asset section and enter the amount. Confirm the transfer and wait for 2-3 minutes. Once the Sol is transferred to your spending wallet you can now proceed buying your first NFT sneaker.

How much can you earn from STEPN?

STEPN's gameplay is highly dependent on the game attribute called energy. This attribute refills every 6 hours and is the main driver of your earning capacity. For starters, one common sneaker will have 2 max energy that re-fills 25% every 6 hours. One energy is equivalent to 5 minutes of movement which generates about 4-5 GST depending on your sneakers attributes, gem sockets, movement speed etc.

Once you have the energy needed to move, you can now start walking using the NFT sneaker. To do this, go to the STEPN app and select the running man icon in the lower left corner. Select your sneaker and click start. Ensure to have good GPS signal at the upper right corner. Green color means you have good good GPS signal, red is poor.

Also, make sure that you are walking within the speed range of the sneaker you are using. If you have a walker type sneaker, ensure to walk within 1-6 km/hr speed to maximize earnings. Every minute you walk within this speed range will make you earn GST token.

The equivalent price of one GST to local Philippine currency is Php3.7, as of this writing. There is really not much in there right now, partly due to bearish market of crypto. The hope of earning better GST is when its price rises back to what it was in April 2022 in which 1 GST is priced at around Php470. Another token that you can earn from STEPN is GMT, which is priced higher than GST. One GMT is around Php50 as of this writing, however, you can only start earning GMT when you reach level 30.

Is it safe to invest in STEPN?

Just like other types of investment, STEPN also has its own risk. Right now, the price of GST and GMT is at the undesirable level, so earnings through this project is a bit tough right now. You also need to strategize carefully in order not lose so much money on this, after all this is still marketed as a game.

You also need to commit to walking or jogging in order to maximize your earnings. There are also other ways to earn in STEPN like renting or selling NFT sneakers. What I have discussed here are just some of the basic things about the game. You can learn more about this by reading their white paper in their website.

As for me, I have not able to ROI on this game yet. I already have 3 common sneakers and so far I am enjoying this game. I may lose money on this but one good consolation I could earn from this is that I have able to resume to exercising everyday. The thought of seeing your STEPN energy not being used motivates me to move.

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