Fitness Meets Crypto: Which Move-to-Earn Game Actually Pays?

Walking, jogging, running—the kind of stuff you’re already doing anyway. Now imagine turning every step into real money. That’s the pitch behind move-to-earn (M2E) games, and honestly, it’s caught fire in the crypto world.

The concept is straightforward: your smartphone tracks your physical activity, records it on a blockchain, and rewards you with tokens or NFTs. No virtual world, no complex strategy—just you, your feet, and potential earnings. But here’s the thing: not all M2E projects are created equal.

Move-to-Earn vs. Play-to-Earn: What’s the Real Difference?

Before diving into specific projects, it’s worth understanding how M2E differs from its cousin, Play-to-Earn (P2E).

P2E games like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox put you in virtual worlds. You complete quests, battle characters, build stuff—traditional gaming wrapped in blockchain rewards. The earning potential is high, but so is the time commitment and complexity.

M2E flips the script. You’re not grinding through dungeons; you’re living your life. The barrier to entry is conceptually lower (some apps even let you start for free), and the audience is broader—not just gamers, but anyone interested in monetizing their fitness routine.

The catch? While P2E rewards are tied to skill and in-game progression (theoretically unlimited upside), M2E earnings are tied directly to your physical activity. More predictable? Yes. More lucrative? That depends on tokenomics.

The Top M2E Projects Breaking Into 2025

STEPN (GMT): The Heavyweight Champion

STEPN isn’t just popular; it’s the market leader by a significant margin. Built on Solana, this app requires you to purchase NFT sneakers to start earning. You walk, run, or jog, and the app tracks everything via GPS. The reward? Green Satoshi Tokens (GST) for everyday activity and Green Metaverse Token (GMT) for governance.

The numbers speak for themselves. STEPN peaked at over 700,000 monthly active users, though it’s currently sitting lower. Despite fluctuations, GMT maintains a market cap of $45.30M with a price of $0.01, making it the largest M2E project by market capitalization.

The app’s Background mode is clever—you earn tokens even when the app is closed, which means your phone is genuinely working for you passively. The dual-token system (GST for spending, GMT for holding) creates a more sophisticated economy than simpler competitors.

The downside? High entry cost. Depending on market conditions, NFT sneakers can run you $50 to $500+. That’s a serious barrier for casual users.

Sweat Economy (SWEAT): The People’s Platform

Sweat Economy took a different approach: accessibility over cost. Download the app, start walking, no upfront payment needed. The platform leverages the NEAR blockchain for speed and operates at massive scale—over 150 million users across web2 and web3.

What makes this interesting is the sustainable tokenomics model. Rather than infinite token minting (which kills value), Sweat Economy adjusts difficulty over time, gradually reducing the minting rate. It’s designed for the long haul, not a quick cash grab.

Current stats: SWEAT market cap sits at $10.61M with a price of $0.00 (trading at fractions of a cent). Despite the low token price, the massive user base gives it significant staying power. In 2022, it was rated the most downloaded health and fitness app globally.

The trade-off? Lower earning potential per activity compared to STEPN, but the barrier to entry is zero.

Step App (FITFI): The Newcomer with Traction

Step App operates on Avalanche and uses a dual-token system: KCAL tokens you earn through movement, and FITFI for governance and staking. With over 300,000 users worldwide who’ve collectively walked 1.4 billion steps and earned 2.3 billion KCAL tokens, it’s showing real adoption.

FITFI’s market cap is $2.31M. It’s smaller than STEPN and Sweat Economy, but it’s actively building features and maintaining user engagement. The Sneaker NFTs (SNEAKs) are upgradeable, adding a progression system that encourages long-term play.

Genopets (GENE): The Gamified Fitness Monster

Genopets combines move-to-earn with actual gameplay. Your steps generate Energy, which evolves your digital Genopet. You battle others, manage virtual habitats, and earn tokens. It’s less purely about fitness and more about a complete gaming experience—which is a strength for user retention but a departure from pure M2E philosophy.

Built on Solana, Genopets maintains a smaller but engaged community. The Genesis Genopets NFT collection has accumulated over 146,000 SOL in trading volume. Market cap: over $11 million for GENE.

dotmoovs (MOOV): AI-Powered Athletic Competition

This one’s different. Instead of just tracking steps, dotmoovs uses AI to analyze your sports skills—creativity, rhythm, technique. You compete peer-to-peer in sports-specific challenges and earn MOOV tokens based on performance.

Operating on Polygon with sport-specific NFTs, it’s positioned itself as the move-to-earn platform for competitive athletes. With 80,000+ players across 190 countries and analysis of over 41,000 videos, it’s building real community. Market cap: $502.80K. Still early-stage but with unique positioning.

Walken (WLKN): The Character-Driven Approach

Walken lets your steps power a CAThlete character that competes in different athletic disciplines—sprint, urban, marathon. It’s gamified more than pure competitors, with leagues offering substantial rewards based on performance.

Operating on Solana, Walken has over 1 million downloads on Google Play Store alone. The dual-token system (WLKN for governance, GEM for activity-based rewards) creates clear earning paths. Market cap: $3.3M+.

Rebase GG (IRL): Geo-Location Gaming

This one adds exploration to the mix. IRL token holders complete geo-located challenges tied to real-world locations, encouraging both physical activity and interaction with their environment. It’s less about pure fitness and more about adventure-based earning.

Market cap: ~$4 million with 20,000+ players. Smaller scale but targeting a different psychological motivation—exploration rather than pure fitness.

The Real Problems: Why Most Users Quit

Let’s be honest about the elephant in the room: M2E projects face serious challenges.

Token Inflation Killer

Many M2E projects have unlimited token supplies. STEPN’s GST is the notorious example. When you can mint tokens infinitely and users are dumping rewards daily, the token value approaches zero faster than a market crash. Fewer rewards = fewer users = death spiral. Sweat Economy partially solved this by capping minting rates, which is why it’s maintained better value proposition.

High Entry Barriers

STEPN requires NFT purchases upfront. Genopets wants you to invest. Even with free-to-start apps, the real earning doesn’t happen until you invest in premium assets. This creates a pyramid dynamic: early adopters cash out, late entrants get scraps.

User Retention Nightmare

The 2021 bull run made M2E hot. But novelty wears off. Without actual engaging gameplay (like Genopets or Walken attempt), users eventually ask: “Why am I walking into an app instead of just walking?” The answer needs to be more than “earn tokens.”

Scalability Issues

As these apps grow, blockchain networks get congested. High transaction costs kill the microtransaction economy that makes M2E work. Solana and Polygon handle this better than Ethereum, which is why most successful M2E projects live there.

The Future: Where This Is Actually Heading

The M2E sector isn’t dying; it’s consolidating. The projects that survive will be those that solve sustainability. This likely means:

• AR/VR Integration: Making physical activity tracking more immersive and game-like
• Better Health Metrics: Beyond simple step counting—heart rate, calories, distance, elevation gains
• Realistic Tokenomics: Deflationary mechanisms, sustainable minting, real utility for tokens
• Cross-Chain Integration: Reducing dependency on any single blockchain
• Actual Fitness Value: Partnering with gyms, fitness coaches, health apps

The projects winning won’t be pure M2E plays. They’ll be fitness platforms that happen to use crypto, not crypto platforms that happen to include fitness.

Bottom Line

STEPN remains the market leader by momentum and user base despite volatility. Sweat Economy offers the most accessible entry point with the most realistic long-term sustainability model. Walken and Genopets provide better actual gameplay experiences. Emerging players like dotmoovs are finding niches through specialization.

For casual participation, Sweat Economy or Walken make sense—low barrier, reasonable earning expectations. For those willing to invest upfront, STEPN or Step App offer higher potential returns but with higher risk. For competitive athletes, dotmoovs offers something genuinely different.

Whatever you choose, understand this: M2E is a young market. Most projects will fail. Some will thrive. The winners will be those that make fitness genuinely rewarding—not just financially, but as actual gaming experiences.