Stepn Crypto: A Good Investment Or Just Another Risk?

STEPN is a Web3 lifestyle app with fun social elements and a gamification design that rewards users for taking steps, including walking, jogging, and running. Users can buy or rent sneaker NFTs and start earning rewards by walking, jogging, or running outside. STEPN has two crypto tokens: the Green Satoshi Token (GST), which is used to pay users' rewards, and the Green Metaverse Token (GMT), which is used for governance purposes. The app has its own marketplace where users can sell their NFT sneakers, and all earnings are stored in an in-app wallet. While STEPN has been gaining traction and has the potential to generate huge ROI for its holders, it is hard to say if it is a good investment. Cryptocurrency markets remain extremely volatile, and it is difficult to predict what a coin or token's price will be in a few hours, let alone make long-term estimates.

STEPN's Web3 lifestyle app

STEPN is a Web3 lifestyle app with fun social elements and a gamification design. Users are equipped with NFT sneakers and can walk, jog, or run outdoors to earn GST, which can be used to level up and mint new sneakers. Players can choose to lease or sell their NFT sneakers on the in-app marketplace; users' GST earnings are stored in the in-app wallet, which has a built-in swap function.

STEPN was founded under the oversight of Find Satoshi Lab, which was founded in 2021 by Australian entrepreneurs Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong. The platform serves as a kind of NFT marketplace/fitness app/play-to-earn hybrid. People who want to get involved with the system need to either buy or rent a sneaker NFT, with owners of rented NFTs getting a share of rewards. Sneakers are equipped with a range of different attributes, including comfort, resilience, and efficiency. Once someone has one, they can start walking, jogging, or running outside to earn rewards.

STEPN has two different crypto tokens. One is the green satoshi token (GST), which is used to pay users' rewards. The other is the green metaverse token, or GMT. This crypto is used for governance purposes, meaning that holders have the right to vote on changes to the STEPN network.

STEPN is not the first project to try to incentivize people to live a healthier life with cryptocurrency, but it is by far the simplest one to use and interact with. With the overall awareness of health issues and the importance of exercise on the rise, it is expected that this project will likely attract quite a bit of attention in due time.

The Green Metaverse Token (GMT)

GMT is the native token of the FSL ecosystem, with a fixed supply of 6 billion tokens. It is well-used in all FSL ecosystem products, including STEPN, MOOAR, Gas Hero, and DOOAR. GMT can be purchased on the open market and is available on exchanges such as Binance, Kucoin, Gate.io, and Huobi Global.

As of September 2024, the live price of GMT is around $0.14 to $0.15 per token, with a market cap of about $350 million to $370 million USD. The 24-hour trading volume is approximately $28 million to $58 million USD.

Looking at price predictions, GMT is expected to experience potential growth. By the end of 2024, GMT could reach a maximum price of $1.36, with an average trading price of $1.23 and a minimum expected price of $1.21. In 2025, GMT could fluctuate between $1.74 and $2.09, with an average price of around $1.78. By 2026, GMT could reach an average price of $2.63, with a maximum of $2.97 in a bullish market and a minimum of $2.56 in a bearish market.

For long-term predictions, GMT is projected to continue its upward momentum. By 2030, GMT is estimated to attain a minimum price of $10.86, with an average of $11.17. By 2040, GMT could trade between $663.11 and $804.74, and by 2050, it could reach a maximum price of $1,060.39.

Whether GMT is a good investment depends on multiple factors and individual circumstances. One argument in favor of GMT as an investment is its potential for substantial returns. GMT has experienced significant price appreciation, and some early investors have generated considerable profits. The growing acceptance of GMT as a medium of exchange and store of value by individuals and institutions also suggests a positive outlook for its future.

Burning tokens for benefits

Burning tokens is a strategy employed by cryptocurrency projects to influence the price of a token or coin in the market. This is achieved by permanently removing some tokens from circulation. While major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum do not have token-burning programs, many strong Altcoins use this strategy.

Token burning can be done by buying a certain amount of tokens from the market to get them out of circulation. These tokens are then transferred to a frozen private address called a "Burn Address". This address is one-way, meaning there is no ability to reverse the transaction or withdraw the coins. The burn address to which the tokens are sent can never be recovered because there is no private key corresponding to that address. For all practical purposes, the asset no longer exists—it has been "burned".

Binance, for example, has conducted quarterly token burns, removing around $60 million in BNB tokens from circulation since the inception of these burns.

Another method of token burning is demonstrated by Ripple, a top digital asset. They reduce the number of transactions allowed on their network, limiting the possibility of a DDoS attack. They also take the fees used as "gas" to make transactions happen faster than usual, reducing the supply of XRP circulating in the market with every transaction.

Stablecoins like USDT and USDC have also conducted token burns of over $2.8 billion, providing transparency of reserves once funds are added or retired.

There are several benefits to token burning. The most well-known benefit is the potential increase in the value of the remaining coins. For example, Stellar, a cryptocurrency company, conducted a token burn of 55 billion XLM tokens, reducing the supply by over 50%. This resulted in a noticeable short-term price increase from $0.069 to $0.088 in a single day, a change of around 25%.

Token burning can also be seen as a form of an airdrop, increasing the value of community holders' tokens. For instance, if Project X conducts a token burn, and the value of each token increases by 10% as a result, every community member holding Project X tokens will have benefited from the increased value of their holdings, without having to spend any additional money. This endears community members to projects that announce periodic token burns, and many projects employ this as a marketing tactic.

Token burning also builds trust and confidence in the project. For example, during the ICO stage, it is common to find the burning process done once the token or coin is finally launched to provide new investors with the reliability that their funds will not be affected by over-circulation.

Additionally, by reducing the circulating supply of a cryptocurrency, the number of transactions is also reduced, lowering the chances of spam attacks and leaving enough bandwidth for healthy transaction counts on the network.

GMT's price history

The Green Metaverse Token (GMT) is the crypto token used for governance in the STEPN ecosystem. STEPN is a Web3 lifestyle app with fun social elements and gamification design. Users equipped with NFT sneakers walk, jog, or run outdoors to earn GST, which can be used to level up and mint new sneakers.

GMT first came onto the open market on March 2, 2022, with a token price of about $0.01. Over the next month, there was significant interest in GMT, with the crypto's value rocketing to an all-time high of $4.11 on April 28. However, the highs were short-lived, and when the market crashed in May following the depegging of the UST stablecoin, GMT sank to a low of $0.8292. The crypto market has seen a lot of volatility, and GMT prices have reflected that.

In June 2022, when the Celsius Network (CEL) crypto lending platform cancelled withdrawals, confirming a bear market, GMT dropped to $0.5541 on June 18. While it recovered and spent some time above $1 in July and August, things took a turn for the worse in the fall. On November 1, 2022, news that Find Satoshis Labs was launching its own NFT marketplace, MOOAR, helped boost the GMT price above $0.60. However, the collapse of the FTX (FTT) exchange soon after sparked another market crash, and STEPN closed the year at $0.2296.

The year 2023 has been more encouraging for GMT investors, with a buoyant market helping the token reach a high of $0.6817 on January 26. As of February 28, 2023, GMT was worth about $0.382, with a market cap of around $229 million, making it the 156th largest crypto by that metric.

Looking at price predictions for GMT, there is a wide range of estimates. Some sources predict that GMT could reach $3.08 by the end of 2022 and even surpass $5 in the near future. On the other hand, more bearish predictions suggest that GMT could drop to $0.3556 by March 5, 2023, and one forecast even claims that GMT could plummet to $0.0428 by the end of February 2024.

It's important to remember that cryptocurrency markets are extremely volatile, and price predictions often turn out to be wrong. As such, it's crucial to do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.

STEPN's potential future

STEPN's future is difficult to predict, as with any cryptocurrency, but there are some positive signs for the project.

STEPN is a Web3 lifestyle app with a unique concept that combines gaming, social, and fitness elements. Users can buy or rent NFT sneakers and then earn tokens by walking, jogging, or running outdoors. This move-to-earn concept is an interesting development in the crypto space, and one that could attract users who want to live a healthier lifestyle.

The project was founded in 2021 by Australian entrepreneurs Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong, and it has already seen some impressive growth. The app launched in December 2021 and quickly gained traction, with the number of daily users increasing from 1,500 in January to over 100,000 in April. STEPN also raised $5 million in a seed round from prominent venture capital companies, and the company earned almost $29 million from sneaker NFT sales.

The STEPN token (GMT) reached an all-time high of $4.11 in April 2022 but has since experienced a downward trend, along with the broader crypto market. As of September 2024, GMT is trading at around $0.27, with a market cap of $372 million.

Looking ahead, there are some bullish predictions for STEPN's price. Some analysts expect the token to reach $3.08 by the end of 2024, with a potential to surpass $5 in the near future. More conservative estimates put the token's price at around 0.33 by the end of the year.

In the longer term, STEPN price predictions vary significantly. Some analysts see the token reaching $40 by 2024, $100 by 2025, and as high as $400 by 2026. On the other hand, some forecasts are far more bearish, with predictions of GMT dropping to as low as $0.04 by February 2024.

Overall, STEPN has an interesting concept and has shown promising growth in its early stages. However, as with any crypto investment, there are risks involved, and it's important to do your own research before investing.

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