STEPN (GMT) is a Game-Fi project that offers token rewards to its participants who are active in jogging, or running activities. Not only that it is also synonymous with move-to-earn (M2E). With the availability of GMT, users can buy digital goods or stacking on the platform.
Today there was a shocking episode when the GMT token fell over 37% in minutes after the announcement of the withdrawal from China and is now trading at $ 1.11, rising from a low of $ 0.84.
The decline pushed GMT to its lowest level in two months, erasing the big gains it enjoyed in April. Last April GMT has been the center of attention so much so that it puts the token in the top 50 crypto assets chart. GMT had previously hit $ 4 per unit at the end of April before falling below $ 1.
However, the withdrawal of projects from China is likely to be a major obstacle, given that the country has the potential to have large consumers.
GST which is another token of STEPN is down 24% at $ 1.55 in the last 24 hours. The crash also caused token holders to choose to sell their holdings en masse in the futures market with a record $ 23 diluted in the past 24 hours.
On Twitter, STEPN said it will stop providing GPS services to users in China starting July 15. The move was in response to directives from regulatory authorities.
Since GPS is an important part of the application that determines the reward to the user based on movement then with this the application becomes useless in China.
The move may be tied to government scrutiny of cryptocurrencies in China. Since STEPN rewards users in crypto for using the app, it is likely to have caught the attention of regulators.
STEPN has previously been able to evade some regulatory scrutiny due to its largely use of NFT. But not anymore now. In addition, STEPN was also embroiled in allegations that it was a ponzi scheme. The criticism is directed at the fact that the app needs to consistently attract new users in order to maintain its rewards.
