Why is STEPN Crypto down? What is happening?

The popular move-to-earn game STEPN (quotation GMT) has seen incredible volatility in recent times. Over the past week, GMT tokens have been trading in a very wide range between $ 0,77 and $ 1,13, settling towards the $ 0,85 level at the time of writing.

Unfortunately for investors, the recent trend of this project has been negative. In the past 24 hours, starting at 16.00pm ET on Tuesday, STEPN is down 9,6%. 

This drop follows the decision made last week by STEPN's development team to introduce a new feature for its game, which takes place on an app as users move around the real-world space. The introduction of health points effectively restricts the use of sneakers, which are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) used to earn rewards when users train, making it more expensive to play this game of movement and gain. 

The idea behind STEPN is intriguing

For investors who purchase an NFT sneaker (required to play using the app), it is possible to receive gems as redeemable rewards for traveling specific distances. In this way, simply by exercising, you can earn money. This is a positive incentive, if I've ever heard of one. 

However, one wonders how sustainable the STEPN model is given the inflationary nature of the rewards, which are actually minted on an ongoing basis. And this causes many to worry about the long-term sustainability of this project. Aside from NFT sneaker sales, there is no real source of income with which to pay these premiums.

As a result, the STEPN team decided to force users to periodically update their NFTs (by exchanging a "worn" sneaker and buying a new one) or to risk them becoming ineffective. The goal is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.

What happens now

For users who have invested in STEPN NFTs and now find their sneakers worn out, this news is reasonably unpopular. The return on investment that was once good for an NFT may no longer be so appealing. Consequently, the final impact on this network's cryptocurrency has yet to be determined.

Some GMT token investors may view this news as positive, at least in the long term. The rewards need to be sustainable and it's good to see the STEPN team care about this. Also, despite this recent news, there are indications that NFT sales remain strong in the community. Until there is a dramatic decline, perhaps there is little to worry about.

The decline appears to be more macroscopic in general. That said, NFT's sales of STEPN sneakers will be a key metric that investors interested in this project will want to monitor in the future (physically and financially).