Genopets

Genopets is the world's first free-to-play, move-to-earn NFT game, built on Solana. The core premise is simple: players earn in-game rewards by staying active in the real world. Using the pedometer on a smartphone, Genopets tracks daily steps and converts that physical activity into Energy — the fuel for all gameplay. The result is a game that encourages healthier habits without requiring players to stare at a screen for hours.

How Move-to-Play Works

Every day, players accumulate steps as they go about their lives. Before midnight, they bank those steps, converting them into Energy. That Energy is then used to level up and evolve their Genopet, battle other players, and explore the game world. Forgetting to bank steps means forfeiting the day's rewards — a deliberate design choice meant to build daily habits through consistency rather than passive accumulation.

Genopets draws deliberate inspiration from classic digital pet games like Tamagotchi and the Pokemon series. Each player's Genopet is personalized to reflect their own personality at the start, and its evolution over time is tied directly to how actively the player engages both with fitness and with the game. The higher a Genopet's level, the stronger its in-game abilities and the rarer it can become — creating a natural alignment between a healthy lifestyle and increasing in-game value.

Gameplay Features

The game is structured around several interlocking pillars.

Nurture and Evolution — Players feed, play with, and care for their Genopet each day to maintain its mood. Banking steps consistently causes the Genopet to level up and eventually evolve into more powerful forms, increasing its XP and combat capability.

Battle — Players can challenge one another in turn-based minigames designed to test reaction time, memory, and cognitive skills. Preparing a Genopet for Arena competition requires consistent step-banking to accumulate the Energy needed for combat readiness.

Explore — The game is set in a world called the Genoverse, with a storyline set on a planet named Esoterra. Players can embark on quests solo or with friends, uncovering hidden realms and discovering rare crafting recipes. Adventure Mode, introduced in early preview in April 2025, allows players to claim real-world geographic sectors and uncover elements of the Genoverse overlaid on their physical surroundings.

Habitat System

Habitats are premium NFTs that unlock the full economic layer of the game. Unlike many NFT collections, Habitats are not pre-designed; they are procedurally generated at the moment of minting, meaning every Habitat is a unique piece of art and function. Habitat owners can harvest KI tokens by converting Energy from steps, refine crystals to extend the Habitat's lifespan, practice alchemy to craft in-game items and power-ups, and terraform new Habitats using a combination of KI, GENE, refined crystals, and a Terraform Seed. Habitats can be bought, sold, or rented in the marketplace.

Dual Token System

Genopets operates with two on-chain tokens and one in-game-only token.

GENE (GENEtH5amGSi8kHAtQoezp1XEXwZJ8vcuePYnXdKrMYz) is the governance and staking token. It is used for Genesis NFT sales, seasonal drops, in-game crafting of rare items, and governance voting. Staking GENE earns players in-game rewards, private beta access, and seasonal NFT drops. GENE is scheduled to unlock over 60 months from its Token Generation Event. In December 2022, founders and lead investors agreed to extend the vesting period by an additional year — founders moved to a four-year vest — as a show of solidarity during adverse market conditions.

KI (kiGenopAScF8VF31Zbtx2Hg8qA5ArGqvnVtXb83sotc) is the in-game utility token earned exclusively by Habitat owners who convert their daily step-derived Energy into KI. KI is burned when spent, and a daily earning cap limits supply inflation. It functions as the primary currency for crystal refinement, alchemy and crafting, and terraforming new Habitats.

sGENE is a synthetic, non-tradeable token available to GENE stakers as an alternative way to withdraw staking rewards. It can only be used in-game and is burned upon use — it does not affect the total GENE supply and cannot be converted back into GENE.

Team and Background

Genopets was founded in the fall of 2021 by Albert Chen (Co-Founder, CEO and CTO), Benjamin Tse (Co-Founder, CPO), and Jay Chang (Co-Founder, CMO). Kevin Kim serves as COO and Austin Chen as CFO. Advisors include Prabh Reddy, co-founder of FalconX.

In its seed round, Genopets raised USD 8.3 million, co-led by Pantera Capital and Konvoy Ventures, with participation from Animoca Brands, Mechanism Capital, The Spartan Group, Yield Guild Games, Alameda Research, CMS Holdings, CMT Digital, GBV Capital, Solana Capital, Xoogler Ventures, and others. Notable Genesis NFT holders have included NBA forward Tobias Harris, professional footballer Keisuke Honda, and former cricket captain AB de Villiers.

Ecosystem Position and Recent Development

Genopets is available on iOS and Android and is free to download, with no prior Web3 knowledge required. The base experience — summoning a Genopet, tracking steps, leveling up through physical activity — is accessible to anyone. The premium Habitat layer introduces the full token economy for players who want deeper engagement.

The project has continued active development since early access launched. A V1 update in March 2024 brought a new onboarding experience and app refresh. Throughout 2024, the team shipped Mainframe Battle, daily and weekly challenges with energy and item rewards, and the groundwork for Adventure Mode. The Genopets Reborn initiative introduced a generative AI story mode and early augmented reality features that layer the Genoverse onto real-world locations.

Genopets represents a design philosophy that runs counter to the pay-to-play model common in early GameFi: the base game is free, blockchain features are additive rather than required, and the core reward loop is tied to physical activity rather than financial investment.