What is sweatcoin? Your ultimate guide to sweat economy (SWEAT)
By Peter Henn
10:35, 14 September 2022
Sweatcoin, a move-to-earn operation, is one of the most eagerly anticipated cryptocurrency launches of recent times. What is sweatcoin (SWEAT)? How does sweatcoin work? What is sweatcoin used for? Let’s see what we can find out.
Move-to-earn explained
Fitness tracker apps have blossomed in the tech sphere in the past decade or so. With the growth of smartphones, it is now easier to create a “digital pedometer”, which tracks how many steps you take every day, and also links in with other health metrics, such as weight, calorie burn, and so on.
It was inevitable that there would be some kind of crossover between fitness apps and blockchains. In 2017, the Triffic app came out. The idea behind this was that people could walk around their local areas and collect powerups, rather similar to Pokemon Go, which had been a massive recent success. The success of Pokemon Go had proven that there was no need for a fitness phone app to be dull, technical, and austere. This led to the rise of more colourful fitness apps.
While Triffic, ultimately, withered, the idea of the metaverse, a virtual environment where people could interact with each other and decorate their own space, led to a growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which in turn led to a system known as play-to-earn (P2E). P2E meant, simply, that if a game rewarded people with NFTs, those NFTs could ultimately be sold for real-world, fiat currency.
As a result, the idea of the move-to-earn game was created, with one of the most notable examples being Stepn (GMT), which came out in March 2022. Stepn was a blockchain-first company. The next inevitable move was for an organisation which was not based on the blockchain to cross into the crypto move-to-earn (M2E) universe.
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What is sweatcoin?
Can sweatcoin become the top M2E token? - Photo: Hasbi Sahin / Shutterstock.comIn April 2022, it was announced that the Sweatcoin app would be launching its own cryptocurrency. The sweatcoin token, also known as sweat economy, or by its ticker handle of SWEAT, is based on the Ethereum (ETH) and Near Protocol (NEAR) blockchains and is designed to reward users who sign up to the system and carry out exercise.
The original Sweatcoin coin was a non-crypto token. When the application’s users had carried out a certain amount of steps, they were paid in the token which, in turn, could be redeemed for rewards with companies such as Headspace and Audible, or donated to a range of charities. Nevertheless, since the existing Sweatcoin token was not part of the crypto world but, at least in theory, had some of the same functionality as a cryptocurrency, it clearly seemed logical to explore the possibilities of creating a native crypto token for the Sweatcoin app.
In an interview, the London-based Sweatcoin co-founder Anton Derlyalka said: “It's almost like we knew that we would go crypto one day, but the technology had to be ready.
“We were kind of waiting and waiting and waiting and it's finally started to happen and then it took us a few good months to get ready and prepare everything. And we're almost there.
“This is exactly what we wanted to achieve: to completely change the mindset and make people, instead of thinking about physical activity, frankly, as a bit of a nuisance or a pain, start thinking about it as literally a valuable activity that does add value through making you more healthy.
“The value of Sweatcoin is, you can translate it into something valuable. If you translate it into crypto assets, that does bring some value with it. How much we do not know.”
How does Sweatcoin work?
Since the sweat economy token is based on Ethereum and Near Protocol blockchains, this means that it is a token, rather than a coin. The sweatcoin cryptocurrency first came onto the open market on 13 September 2022. The crypto’s lightpaper says that the token is based on the idea of “the open economy of movement”.
While the system currently has its own crypto wallet, called the Sweat Wallet, it also plans to install NFTs and the ability to directly purchase SWEAT with fiat currency by the end of 2022. In 2023 and 2024, there are plans to create an NFT marketplace, as well as make the token available on decentralised exchanges (DEXes), and give control of the crypto to a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO). In 2025, the platform plans to expand minting the sweatcoin cryptocurrency beyond walking, to such activities as cycling and swimming.
Users are able to generate one sweatcoin (SWEAT) for every 10,000 steps they take, although, in the future, that number will go up. The sweatcoin crypto uses people called movement validators, who confirm that users are taking the required number of steps in order to issue the crypto. Tthe token will be used to buy NFTs, to take out a subscription to Sweatcoin’s premium services and to collect revenue from NFT sellers, with it also being used to .
The crypto is also used to collect advertising fees, and movement validators will have to stake SWEAT in order to take up their positions. Users can also stake in order to earn rewards and to get the opportunity to mint more SWEAT. According to the ICOdrops website, a presale raised $15m. Although there are no official, verified figures available, the SWEAT blog said that there were 25.8 billion sweat economy at the time of the token’s launch. However, since this was up from the originally stated 21 billion, 4.8 billion of these tokens were to be burned. Meanwhile, the system’s litepaper said that there was no cap on the amount of sweatcoin that could potentially exist at any one time.
The Sweatcoin app itself was founded by the London-based tech entrepreneur Oleg Formenko, venture capital worker Anton Derlyatka, developer Egor Khmelev, and self-described cryptoasset enthusiast Henry Child. The platform has been in existence since 2015.
FAQs
Is sweatcoin real?
It depends on what you mean by real. If you mean whether SWEAT is a real-world, fiat currency, then no. If you mean is it a crypto that exists on the blockchain, then yes.
Is sweatcoin safe?
It is difficult to say at this early stage. While SWEAT has been created by a long-standing fitness app, there are still risks of scams from outside sources. As ever with cryptocurrency, you will need to do your own research, remember that prices can go down as well as up, and do not put at risk any money you cannot afford not to get back.
Who created sweatcoin?
The SWEAT token was created by the Sweatcoin app, which was founded by Oleg Formenko, Anton Derlyatka, Egor Khmelev and Henry Child.
Who owns sweatcoin?
SWEAT is owned by users of the SWEAT app, as well as people who have bought or traded for it on exchanges.
What can you buy with sweatcoin?
It depends on what you mean by sweatcoin. If you mean the Sweatcoin app’s original non-crypto token, then you can either exchange it for rewards or donate it to charity. The practical usage of SWEAT is, however, unclear, although it should be able to be bought, sold, or traded.
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