STEPN was founded in August 2021 by Australian blockchain entrepreneur Yawn Rong. Mr. Rong has previously founded Crypto SA, an Australian crypto fund and pro-regulation auditor, and has served as an ambassador for Algorand and as an industry representative of the South Australian Blockchain Association. He founded STEPN with his neighbor and partner Jerry Huang, a game developer and former founder of Falafel Games.

STEPN raised a significant $5 million seed round from some of the biggest crypto venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Folius Ventures, Solana Capital, Alameda Research, 6th Man Ventures, DeFi Alliance and several others. Several notable angel investors include Santiago R Santos and Asia Partner of Republic Zhen Cao.

STEPN aspires to disrupt the fitness industry in several ways.

Firstly, it incentivizes users to live a healthier lifestyle through a straightforward token reward mechanism. After downloading the app and creating a wallet, users can buy a pair of NFT sneakers to start earning in the game’s Solo Mode. By running or walking around, they can earn Green Satoshi Tokens (GST). Different types of sneakers return GST at different rates — the higher a sneaker’s efficiency attribute, the more GST per minute the user can earn.

This introduces the second revolutionary element of STEPN: the gamification of fitness. Thanks to the app’s in-game rewards, daily energy allowances, and customized sneakers, STEPN gamifies movement and nudges users towards a healthier lifestyle. In the future, the app plans to add a Marathon Mode, which will have weekly and monthly races between 2.5km and 15km. Marathon participants will be able to earn and compare their achievements on a leaderboard, with extra rewards for the top-ranking runners.

Finally, STEPN allows users to signal in two ways: through living a healthier lifestyle and earning tokens for it and through positively contributing to carbon neutrality. The former gives users an emotional and financial reward. The latter is achieved through STEPN’s contributions to buying Carbon Removal Credits on Solana to combat climate change.

STEPN follows a dual-token model with a utility token called GST and a governance token called GMT. GST has an unlimited supply and is the app’s currency that is earned for movement. It has several burn mechanisms to disincentivize inflation, such as minting or repairing sneakers, leveling up sneakers, and upgrading gems.

GMT is earned after users have leveled up their sneakers to level 30. GMT has a total supply of 6 billion and is distributed as follows:

• Move and Earn: 30%
• Ecosystem and treasury: 30%
• Private sale: 16.3%
• Launchpad sale: 7%
• Team :14.2%
• Advisors: 2.5%

The total release of GMT is halved every three years, and team and private sale tokens are subject to vesting, which does not start before 2023.

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