A new cryptocurrency, Sweatcoin, rewards users for physical movement. It is the second digital 'fitness' currency to launch within a few months.
Sweatcoins are earned through human movement like walking and running, as monitored via a smartphone app, using GPS.
One Sweatcoin is banked for each 1 000 steps taken. The Sweatcoins can be spent on a variety of goods, services and experiences - all with a focus on healthier living.
The company says providers of products that can be purchased with Sweatcoins get their products tested by new users, receiving valuable feedback and promotion in compensation. Retailers can also hold on to their Sweatcoins, "which will be gaining value over time", claims the company.
In December, start-up Bitwalking launched Bitwalking Dollars (BW$s), premised on the same principle. However, users need to take 10 000 steps to earn one BW$. Bitwalking is currently running an invite-only beta version.
Sweatcoin co-founder Oleg Fomenko says he would like Bitwalking to go live soon.
"We do fight the same fight and it would be good if they went live soon to help the whole market grow."
Sweatcoin uses complex software to measure movement and location to prevent cheating, and the technology behind virtual currency Bitcoin to manage transactions.
To start earning Sweatcoins, users download a free iOS app. The founders say they are working on developing an Android app.
The app is currently only available to users in Britain, but Fomenko hopes to expand to other regions soon.
"We could go live immediately, but we feel we need to have a flourishing local marketplace to make it worthwhile for users," says Fomenko.
For this to happen, he says the company needs to first "drum up support from global partners who can support us worldwide, then promote our community marketplace that enables every user to start accepting Sweatcoin, thus powering value locally, and finally ask local partners to get in touch".
Health helpers
Being rewarded for movement is the latest initiative in an emerging fitness economy that includes all manner of monitoring devices, apps that reward activity with vouchers, and even experiments in offering cheap insurance to people who can demonstrate they exercise.
In SA, health insurer Discovery gives Vitality Active users weekly rewards of smoothies or coffee for reaching personalised fitness goals. This is tracked through a smartphone app.
Discovery also has a programme that gives users a "free" Apple Watch if they are able to complete four-monthly fitness goals in 24 months.
Fomenko says Sweatcoin's business is pegged on making movement valuable. "Eventually, Sweatcoin is going to have a rate of exchange tied to the British pound."
Partners on board to offer rewards include Vivobarefoot running shoes, Kymira infrared clothing, and fitness classes from Wonderush or BOOMCycle.
The company has signed on four London start-ups to offer Sweatcoin as part of an employee rewards programme that will offer extra days off, subsidised healthy meals, or free massages for Sweatcoins they accumulate through activity.
Fomenko says his company spoke to all the major health insurers but must prove it can attract users before it can hope to sign commercial deals to use Sweatcoin metrics as a way of calculating health risks and potentially lowering policy premiums for verified physical activity.
If Sweatcoin succeeds, the long-term idea is that insurers or employers might pay to take Sweatcoins off the market as a reward to users for their physical activity.
"Right now, movement is valued at zero," Fomenko said. "How much value a Sweatcoin will have will be a market decision but we know it's not zero."
The company is also developing a proprietary version of blockchain anti-tampering technology to manage the distribution of its currency, akin to how Bitcoin transactions work.
Setting goals
At the moment, there is a limit to how many coins users can earn per day.
"We cap the amount of steps convertible per day depending on the level of progressively growing to 20 000 steps per day. This helps to gamify the experience and engage users' interest in moving more," says Fomenko.
Fomenko previously ran start-up Bloom.fm, but it imploded in 2013 when funding from its sole investor was pulled.
This time round, Fomenko is taking money from a diverse set of London start-up investors and undisclosed music industry heavyweights. Sweatcoin has raised £610 000.
One of the other co-founders, Danil Perushev, has moved to San Francisco with the aim of expanding Sweatcoin into the US in the coming year.
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