STEPN

STEPN is a move-to-earn app. You buy an NFT sneaker, then walk, jog or run outdoors with GPS switched on, and the app pays you in crypto. It started on Solana in 2021 and now also runs on BNB Chain and Polygon. Daily movement earns GST, the in-game token. High-level sneakers can earn GMT, the governance token. STEPN is made by FSL (Find Satoshi Lab), which also runs a sister app called STEPN GO. The app is still live in October 2026, though it is far smaller than at its peak. You cannot earn without first paying for a sneaker, and the tokens you earn can fall in value.

How does STEPN work? NFT sneakers, Energy and GPS

STEPN pays you for moving outdoors at the right speed while you have Energy left. Energy is your daily earning allowance. One Energy covers five minutes of movement, and the app tracks your pace by GPS. When your Energy runs out, earning stops, even if you keep running.

How much Energy you get depends on how many sneakers you hold. According to the STEPN whitepaper, one Common sneaker gives 2 Energy, which is ten minutes of earning a day. Three sneakers give 4 Energy and nine give 9. Energy refills by a quarter every six hours.

Each sneaker has four attributes. Efficiency raises the GST you earn per Energy. Luck affects how often Mystery Boxes drop. Comfort slows wear and raises GMT earnings. Resilience slows the loss of durability. Sneakers also have HP, a measure of condition that falls as you use them. At zero HP a sneaker cannot be used until you restore it by burning GST, so part of what you earn goes back into upkeep.

Sneaker types: Walker, Jogger, Runner and Trainer

STEPN has four sneaker types, and each one is built for a speed range. Move faster or slower than that range and you earn less, by up to 90% according to the whitepaper. So the type you pick should match how you already move.

Sneakers also come in five grades, from Common up to Legendary. A higher grade starts with better stats and gains more points each time it levels up. The table uses figures from the whitepaper's sneaker types page.

GST and GMT: the two STEPN coins explained

GST (Green Satoshi Token) is what you earn day to day, and GMT (Green Metaverse Token) is the scarcer governance token. GST has an unlimited supply. The app mints it as people move and burns it when they repair, level up or mint sneakers. GMT is capped at 6 billion tokens, all created at launch on 9 March 2022, per the tokenomics pages.

You can only earn GMT with a sneaker at Level 30 or with a special Rainbow sneaker. Below that level a sneaker earns GST only. GMT is also what you spend on bigger upgrades, such as passing certain sneaker levels.

STEPN splits its game into "Realms", one per blockchain: Solana, BNB Chain and Polygon. The Polygon Realm replaced the Ethereum Realm in August 2025. Each Realm has its own GST, and GST cannot move between Realms. On Solana, GMT is the SPL token GMT. Energy is capped at 20 per Realm.

STEPN vs STEPN GO: what is the difference?

STEPN GO is a separate app from the same company, with its own token and a more social design. FSL opened its public beta in September 2024. The original app is now often called STEPN OG.

The STEPN GO whitepaper lists the main changes. STEPN GO pays a new token called GGT instead of GST. To gain Energy or raise your Energy cap in STEPN GO, you burn sneakers instead of only holding them. A feature called The Haus lets you lend a sneaker to a friend or family member, so they can try the app without buying one. You also get a 3D avatar to dress up. Signing up needs an FSL ID and an activation code. The STEPN GO whitepaper still describes the app as being in a testing phase.

Both apps count towards shared events such as Marathon, and both use GMT.

Marathon Season 3, Challenge Capsules and Premium

Marathon is a streak contest where you put money at stake and keep it only if you move every day. You lock a stake of 50 to 200 USD and must use some Energy every day in STEPN or STEPN GO. Miss a day without insurance and you forfeit your entry. Players who finish share the forfeited entries in their pool.

Season 3 began in August 2026 and is split into six rounds of two weeks each. Round 5 started on 5 October, according to STEPN's announcement on X. An optional Season Pass adds Premium Membership and cosmetic rewards.

Challenge Capsules, added to the whitepaper in May 2026, are paid mystery challenges. You pay a GMT entry fee, the task is revealed, and completing it earns a ticket in a prize draw. Fees are not refunded once paid unless the capsule fails to reach its minimum number of players.

Premium Membership gives a profile tag and small odds of keeping a Minting Scroll or Gem. The whitepaper says the subscription is available on iOS only.

How to start: app download, wallet and buying a sneaker

Getting started takes five steps, per the official guide. Download STEPN from the App Store or Google Play. Sign up with your email. Create the in-app wallet and write down its 12-word secret phrase. Fund the wallet. Then buy a sneaker in the Marketplace.

To fund the wallet you transfer in GMT, plus a little of the chain's own coin, such as SOL or BNB, for network fees. On iPhone you can instead buy SPARK with Apple Pay. SPARK is an in-app credit that only buys sneakers and cannot be swapped out. A new account may also need an activation code. STEPN turns that requirement on and off, and existing players earn one code for every 10 Energy they spend.

The Marketplace charges a 2% platform fee and a 4% royalty on sales. Swaps inside the app go through DOOAR, FSL's own exchange, which charges a 1% trading fee.

Is STEPN dead? What is still running in 2026

STEPN is not dead. The app is live and FSL is still shipping updates in October 2026. Marathon Season 3 is in progress, a fifth-anniversary event called STEPNEMBER5 ran through September, and new badges arrived in early October.

It is much smaller than it was. In 2022 the app became a craze, then its economy collapsed. CryptoSlate reported in June 2022 that GST had fallen 98% in two months.

The cause was built into the design. GST has unlimited supply, so its price depends on players spending it as fast as others earn it. When new buyers slowed, earnings shrank with the token. The live token and activity figures on this page show where things stand now.

Who STEPN is for

STEPN suits people who already walk or run outdoors most days and want a game on top of that habit. It fits best if you are comfortable holding a crypto wallet and can treat the sneaker cost as money spent on a hobby. Marathon suits people who want a financial penalty to keep a streak going.

It is a poor fit if you exercise indoors, because STEPN measures outdoor movement by GPS. It is also a poor fit if you want income. With one Common sneaker you earn for ten minutes a day, and repairs take a share of that. STEPN also said in May 2022 that it would cut off GPS for accounts in mainland China from that July.

Is STEPN legit and safe? Audit, bans and other risks

STEPN is a real, long-running product from a known company, but it carries real risks. The main ones are token value, account restrictions and central control.

The first risk is the tokens. GST is minted without a cap, and both tokens fell sharply in 2022. What you earn may end up worth less than your sneaker cost.

The second is losing access. STEPN's anti-cheat system gives each account a score. Under its published rules, a score of 80 or below blocks withdrawals, and GPS spoofing brings an immediate ban with no appeal. The system has made mistakes. In June 2022, during a wave of DDoS attacks, it flagged some real users as bots, as Decrypt reported.

The third is central control. Verilog Solutions audited the GMT, GST and sneaker NFT contracts on BNB Chain in April 2022. It found no critical or major issues and two medium ones. Both were about the owner's power to mint unlimited GST and new NFTs, which STEPN said was part of its design. The whitepaper's change log says the audit report was extended to Polygon and Ethereum in June 2026. We found no published audit of STEPN's Solana programs.

Custody is in your hands. The in-app wallet gives you a 12-word phrase, so you hold the keys. Lose the phrase and you lose the wallet.

Policy changes can also hit hard. When STEPN announced its mainland China block on 27 May 2022, GST fell about 26% that day, Decrypt reported.

STEPN alternatives on Solana: Moonwalk and Genopets

Two other Solana fitness apps take different routes. Moonwalk has no sneakers to buy. You put a deposit into a step challenge and get it back, plus a share of what others forfeit, if you hit your target. That is close to how STEPN's Marathon works, without the NFT economy around it. Genopets N/A$0.00224+1.1% is a free-to-play game that counts steps with your phone's pedometer and turns them into energy for a digital pet.

STEPN has the longest record and the biggest brand tie-ins of the three. It also has the highest cost to start and the most complex economy.

Who built STEPN: Find Satoshi Lab, funding and partners

STEPN was created by Find Satoshi Lab, an Australian studio founded by Jerry Huang and Yawn Rong. The app placed fourth at the Solana Ignition Hackathon in 2021, per its whitepaper. The team raised 5 million USD from backers including Sequoia Capital and Folius Ventures, according to ForkLog. Binance's venture arm invested later.

In October 2022 the company said it would move its base from South Australia to Hong Kong, The Block reported. It now uses the name FSL.

Brand deals have kept STEPN in view. Adidas released Genesis sneaker NFTs with STEPN in April 2024 and with STEPN GO that September. The Argentine Football Association announced a two-year deal in April 2025. STEPN players also set a Guinness World Records title in November 2024, when 7,818 of them each completed a mile within the same hour.