Sweatcoin: A cryptocurrency with guaranteed gains? [Updated 2020]
UPDATE: Sweatcoin has changed in a few ways since my original 2018 article, so it seemed time for an update.
The biggest difference is that there has been a decline in the quality of prizes and some “rewards” aren’t rewards at all. For example, they recently had a reward where you paid 20 sweatcoins to receive a few free “Eat Your Coffee” bars and you would only have to cover shipping. However, if you go to the brand’s website, they had the same deal going on for everybody. Anybody who took that deal spent sweatcoins on something they could have gotten for free anyway.
This has become common. Sweatcoin now gives you “deals” that are just referral bonuses when you sign up for a service. The app owners get the referral kickbacks and you spend your sweatcoins on something free. These days, the vast majority of prizes are discounts on your first box for subscription services that are likely hoping you forget to cancel.
If Sweatcoin motivates you to walk, by all means, use it. However, the “prizes” these days are anything but motivating.
Original Article:
When I first heard about Sweatcoin last year I was majorly excited. The free app lets you earn “sweatcoins” for walking and you can cash these in for cool rewards. I already love walks, so the idea of getting prizes for it sounded unbeatable. The app’s sleek design also appealed to me. However, my excitement quickly faded when I realized my ancient phone wouldn’t support it.
Flash forward to now. Everybody is talking about how Sweatcoin was briefly the most popular app in the app store. My app developer boyfriend let me borrow an old phone of his (which is sadly still more recent than my phone) and I successfully downloaded it and created an account. So far I like it every bit as much as I thought I would. I took a nice, long walk to try it out. I’m already looking forward to the rewards I can get in the future.
Let’s discuss Sweatcoin from a crypto standpoint. I’ve invested in several cryptocurrencies. So far, I’ve just been hodling (yes, I spelled that right -look it up). This digital currency is a bit different than my other investments.
First of all, Sweatcoin can’t currently be traded for other cryptocurrencies. They plan to change that according to Sweatcoin co-founder Oleg Foment, who said, “As we grow and execute upon our vision, we plan to develop an open-source blockchain DLT technology that will allow Sweatcoin to be traded like any other major crypto- or fiat.”
It differs from Bitcoin and some other major currencies in that it has no maximum supply (they can produce as many sweatcoins as they wish). However, this isn’t unique. Ethereum, for example, also has no set limits.
But my favorite part of Sweatcoin is that it costs no money to buy coins -all your money is made from walking. That’s why you’re guaranteed to benefit. Your coins continue to go up as you walk. This isn’t like the instability of other digital currencies where you don’t know if they’ll be worth only half the value tomorrow. Considering Paypal cash and Amazon credit are often reward options, you’re basically being paid real money to walk. Hopefully, you already try to walk around, in which case you’re getting cryptocurrency for something you already do. So far, I see no downsides. While I don’t see Sweatcoin rising to extreme values like other cryptos I’ve invested in, considering I’ve spent $0, I’m extremely happy. I’d love to hear other people’s opinions! To start earning sweatcoins click here.
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