81% of people in the United States would be motivated to stay fit by earning cryptocurrency for exercising in the Metaverse, according to a new study.
Conducted by fitness website FitRated, the study included a survey of over 1,000 people across the country of different backgrounds, body types, and investing experiences, to gauge how much people would be motivated to work out in the Metaverse.
Study highlights
The study found out that 81% of people would be motivated to stay fit by earning cryptocurrency for exercising and three in four people are interested in signing up for gym memberships with cryptocurrency.
Unsurprisingly, over 60% of people would exercise 5 days a week for a year to earn 1 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
In a previous experiment by the National Bureau of Economic Research, it was discovered that money will not motivate people to go to the gym. But according to this survey data, blockchain technology just might.
63% of people agreed that more fitness motivation was a primary benefit of blockchain technology. Respondents also anticipated and valued more rewards programs (60.4%) and better transparency (51.2%) to come along with this new dynamic of fitness, according to the survey.
Most preferred crypto
BTC was the number one most desired currency that people requested in exchange for working out. The next most valuable cryptocurrency, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), was similarly the second-most desired cryptocurrency, yet this trend broke immediately thereafter. The third most wanted cryptocurrency in exchange for exercise was DogeCoin (CRYPTO: DOGE).
What activities will people prefer for crypto rewards?
Evidently, cryptocurrency motivates the type of fitness that covers a lot of distance, i.e. walking (49.1%), cycling (47.2%), or running (39.3%). Workouts that remain relegated to one location like boxing or weight lifting were not as appealing, at least in exchange for cryptocurrency. Activities like martial arts were only motivated by crypto for 15% of respondents. Perhaps those dedicated to these types of exercise find motivation elsewhere, while those who need the financial incentive are wanting to start someplace simple, like walking.
Experts highlight the importance of long term commitments
Reacting to the survey, Alex Baghdjian, a crypto expert and Co-founder and partner of Funday says move-to-earn, is getting more people who have not embraced Web3 or crypto to check it out.
He sees this as a strategic way of getting a new crop of people interested in learning more about blockchain technology. “Because play-to-earn games have always been wildly successful there is no doubt this model could be just as popular and go mainstream. There needs to be continuous participation along with investors to be truly successful,” he says.
Dr. Dung Trinh, MD, Co-Founder of MdDAO says “Pay to Move” is an upcoming idea that is gaining traction and that incentivizing healthy behaviors through crypto payment will push the momentum forward.
"We all know that exercise is important for our health and to lower / prevent chronic diseases. Many Health plans have started to incentivize their members for preventative health activities such as screening mammograms, colonoscopy, etc. Adding exercise to these activities makes sense," says.
Amar Gautam, Co-founder, and CEO of fintech crypto trading platform HyperLinq however shares a contrarian view.
"I don't think money can motivate someone to work out for the long term. It has to be a motivation that's different than money. Crypto as a motivator for physical activity is temporary," says Amar.
