Move-to-Earn Gains Momentum as Animoca and ApeCoin Enter Race
Hong Kong-based game software company Animoca Brands is partnering with OliveX to bring "Operation Ape" to the digital fitness application's signature move-to-earn game, Dustland Runner.
Dustland Runner, a proof-of-workout audio adventure for runners available on iOS and Android mobile devices, rewards users with DOSE, the project's native token, and NFTs for completing missions. Each mission, like The Fall of Kettlemine and Welcome to the Funhouse, is completed by performing real-world workouts and helps progress the user through a post-apocalyptic game environment.
Operation Ape, which will be exclusively accessible via the upcoming Operation Ape: Exclusive Access Pass NFT drop this May, expands that offering with new, gated missions and additional rewards. In the post-apocalyptic game environment, a colony of apes is threatened by wasteland pirates. The user must complete their missions to save the apes.
Beyond in-game storytelling, the partnership between Animoca Brands and OliveX will create a reward pool exclusively for Operation Ape missions and establish a DOSE and ApeCoin (APE) liquidity pool for the token pair within the next few months. DOSE earned from OliveX's move-to-earn platform can then be swapped for APE, Yuga Labs's native utility and governance token.
Animoca Brands will also receive 30 allowlist spots for each of its selected projects for the upcoming Access Pass NFT release. Those projects include:
- The Sandbox
- Benji Bananas
- Crazy Defense Heroes
- REVV Racing
- Torque Squad
- GAMEE
- MadWorld
Details on the mint are not yet available.
Others in the Move-to-Earn Space
OliveX's Dustland Runner is not the first move-to-earn or proof-of-workout concept to reach mainstream popularity in the web3 space. Solana's Genopets and STEPN have been up and running for awhile.
Genopets claims to be the first-ever move-to-earn NFT game. Each user is given a "digital familiar" or spirit animal encoded with their own personality. The familiar evolves through daily user activity. This brings elements of role-playing games (RPGs) to real-world workouts.
Genopets's native token GENE currently has a market cap of $46 million and a fully diluted market cap of $1.25 billion.
STEPN is less focused on the gamification of working out and more focused on becoming the premier web3 lifestyle and social application. Its users have already ran over 10.9 billion miles, offset 731,000 kg of carbon, and burned 679 million calories, according to STEPN's official website.
STEPN's native token STEPN currently has a market cap of $1.14 billion and a fully diluted market cap of $11.49 billion.
Making exercise more fun is not limited to the blockchain. Meta's (formerly Facebook) Oculus and other VR applications already have gamified workouts with SuperNatural, FitXR, Beat Saber, and others. Utilizing blockchain and NFT technologies to further that gamification process makes sense.
Animoca Brands and OliveX hope to bring an entirely new audience to the space by leveraging the popularity of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.
