Sweatcoin growth precedes potential Australian arrival

Having accumulated more than five million users in 2017 and increased revenue by 266% in the last quarter, the expansion of Sweatcoin is another example of innovation in the fast-growing fitness technology sector.

The free smartphone app that pays people to be physically active, which launched in the United Kingdom in 2016, rewards users with digital ‘sweatcoins’ depending on how many steps they take.

These sweatcoins can then be exchanged for rewards or traded like money.

Another player in the emerging fitness economy that includes a range of monitoring devices and apps that reward activity, Sweatcoin aims to differentiate itself by using complex software to measure movement and location to prevent cheating, and by using the technology behind virtual currency bitcoin to manage transactions.

Having been one of the fastest-growing fitness apps in the App Store and consistently number in the  top three free apps, once users sign up to Sweatcoin, they then connect their smartphone’s health and fitness data and GPS location to the app.

The app then tracks how many steps the user takes in a day and rewards them with a monetary “sweat” value according to their movements. For every 1,000 steps recorded, the app will pay out .95 in ‘sweatcoins’ which users can later trade for fitness gear, workout classes, gift cards and a number of other offerings.

However, users may soon become frustrated with the difficulty in earning coins as the free app only allows coins to be acquired through walking outside - so it theoretically doesn’t count if you are walking on a treadmill at the gym.

Under the free membership model a maximum of five sweatcoins can be earned a day, which is equal to 5,000 steps. Upgrading to the next level of membership, where users can earn 10 sweatcoins a day, costs five coins a month. A total of 10,000 steps is the equivalent of almost five miles.

As a startup, Sweatcoin raised US$5.7 million in funding from Goodwater Capital, which led the round, Greylock, which participated through its Discovery Fund, Rubylight, Seedcamp and SmartHub, as well as a number of angels, including Justin Kan and Rain Lohmus.

Sweatcoin founders say they plan to use the funding to expand to other English-speaking countries, including Australia, and then on to continental Europe and Asia.

Co-founder Anton Derlyatka told the magazine TechCrunch he’d like to “even include the ability to pay taxes with sweatcoin” in the future.

His fellow co-founder Oleg Fomenko also mentioned plans to develop an “open-source blockchain DLT technology that will allow Sweatcoin to be traded like any other major crypto- or fiat currency.”

He added “we are out to fundamentally change the value ascribed to health and fitness and provide the motivation for people to lead better lives.” 

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