The “move-to-earn” training app has reportedly laid off over 100 contract workers. including community moderators, ambassadors and others, according to reports from South China Morning Post and crypto news writer Colin Wu of Wu Blockchain. But the company tells Decrypt that these are “baseless claims that are factually inaccurate”.
“The reality is that STEPN has parted ways with volunteer MODs who have not been active in recent weeks and months,” says a STEPN spokesperson. “In terms of our employees, STEPN is actively hiring for several different roles within the company.”
The “Careers” tab on the STEPN website, where candidates can fill out a form expressing interest in working for the company, remains active.
Launched in 2021, STEP is an app where users buy virtual running shoes that NFTs which allows them to earn STEPN’s native token, GMT, by logging steps IRL. The virtual shoes, which degrade over time, were once among the hottest commodities in crypto.
In May and June this year, STEPN saw a massive increase in monthly active users, logging over 700,000 in May and almost 500,000 in June according to data from Dune Analytics.
Monthly active STEPN users. Source: Dune Analytics
But when July rolled around, STEPN saw a huge drop off. It saw 50% fewer monthly active users in July. It had 140,000 in August, and only 99,000 in September. The number of daily active users has also dropped sharply, down from a peak of 58,000 on June 21st to just 5,800 on September 15th.
And per CoinGecko data, GMT is not working well either. The token is down 84% from its all-time high and down 15% in the last month alone.
This exponential decline cannot be good for STEPN. It begs the question: what is the company doing to stay afloat?
STEPN’s co-founder Yawn Rong wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that STEPN is going through a “transition period.“
“We will use all our resources to move on to the next phase of FSL,“ said Rong, referring to Find Satoshi Lab, STEPN’s parent company. “Over the next few weeks, we will shift gears as we develop our vision,” he wrote. “Through this transition period, we will not leave you in the dark.“
3/5 This month we focus on the way forward. We go for it! Our team has to concentrate on ongoing projects full time, so we will not be hosting a town hall in October. In the meantime, we will use all our resources to move on to the next phase of FSL.
According to Wu, this means that STEPN is winding down. Citing community sources, he wrote that the company is reducing investment in STEPN, which is delaying development progress.
“It began to focus on promoting its parent company Find Satoshi Lab, and mainly focused on new projects to be released as the NFT exchange market,” Wu wrote late Tuesday night.
It began to focus on promoting its parent company Find Satoshi Lab, focusing mainly on new projects to be released as the NFT exchange market. In addition, the large amount of GMT’s investor juice will be unlocked in March next year.
“We remain strong and continue to build, grow and develop despite the bear market,” says the STEPN spokesperson Decrypt. “We pride ourselves on being transparent with our community and choose to address these rumors to avoid further speculation of falsehoods.”
“We at STEPN are disappointed that we even have to address baseless rumors, but we will continue to do what we do best,” the company added.
The challenge for STEPN is clear. Asked about STEPN last week, Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko said Decrypt that “it worked for many users.”
“The big unknown is, is it scalable, and can you get the economics to work out where people get a benefit from the exercise that initially exceeds the money they spend on the platform?”
Editor’s note: this article has been updated to include a response from STEPN to the original layoff reports.
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