App aims to turn exercise into donations

A new smartphone app that pays people to be physically active has launched. Sweatcoin provides users with digital currency – called Sweatcoins – depending on how many steps they take that can be exchanged for rewards or traded like money. Sweatcoins can also be donated to some of the initiatives partner charities. In the past 48 hours the app has gone to #1 in the Apple UK Finance store and has tapped into the current interest in health monitoring apps. Sweatcoin uses complex software to measure movement and location to prevent cheating, and by using the technology behind virtual currency bitcoin to manage transactions. Retailers, health insurers and corporate wellness managers are taking notice, according to. “This whole business is pegged to making movement valuable," said Oleg Fomenko, one of the London-based entrepreneurs who founded Sweatcoin. “Eventually, Sweatcoin is going to have a rate of exchange tied to the British pound. “Right now, movement is valued at zero. How much value a sweatcoin will have will be a market decision but we know it’s not zero."