The creators behind the fitness application Bitwalking want to reward users who move around a lot. For approximately ten thousand steps, they can get a bitwalking dollar ‘with which things can be purchased’. The developers hope to cooperate with other companies.
Bitwalking Go app
Interested individuals should install the application Go, which is available for Android and iOS. For now, however, the software is downloadable only in a few countries and an invitation is necessary; That’s because the creators want to test the concept first before moving on to a worldwide release. When the software will be made freely available is not yet published, but Bitwalking gave in an interview with the BBC a lot of information about the plans.
Details on remuneration are available on the website of Bitwalking. For taking steps, users are rewarded where approximately 10,000 steps will earn you a Bitwalking dollar, the digital currency used by the company. The so-called BW can be used in the shop of Bitwalking where you can also pay with regular dollars. The store is however not always open; periodically it will sell Bitwalking stuff, where it will also inform its users.
For now a BW is a worth a dollar. Bitwalking, however, wants to further spread the use of BW, and hopes to work with other companies, such as footwear manufacturers. The activities should be extended to developing countries, where people often walk more than in Western countries. Bitwalking hopes that BW can provide additional income, but it is still unclear whether this plan actually has a chance of success. In western countries, it must especially encourage people to walk more and more likely to leave the car.
Users get access to their wallet that they themselves can use to do transactions. The company behind the fitness app uses for these operations blockchain technology. Furthermore, there is a “central bank” which is responsible for the currency.
Bitwalking also hopes to sell advertisements with the collected data. The company, a start-up based in London, promises that it will not sell individual user data. Furthermore, Bitwalking claims to have developed an algorithm to verify how many steps users have put.