Former NFL quarterback Tony Romo and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, owned by serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban, have launched “the nation’s first” blockchain fitness app with partner Lympo.
The app, called Lympo, uses a crypto token-based incentivization platform to reward users for leading healthier lifestyles. Founders Cuban and Lympo CEO Patrick Brown said the app is the first to reward exercise with a token that holds real monetary value. Leveraging gamification, tokens are distributed when users complete certain walking and running challenges.
The LYM utility token is different from a cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, that can be exchanged for fiat currency. Users exchange their LYM tokens for premium sports and fitness products specifically within the in-app Lympo Shop, the “first online store” to accept fitness token payments. Over time, a broader range of products and services in the health space will become available on the store, such as personal training sessions, gym memberships, diet and exercise plans, or trendy workout accessories. The token is Ethereum-based to ensure its security and technical stability, which means that its value will fluctuate with variable market conditions such as movements in crypto and traditional currencies.
In a joint statement, Cuban and Brown called the free application a “revolutionary new concept in wellness and personal technology.”
“Lympo is a seamless tool for motivating people to become healthy and adopt an active lifestyle,” said Brown. “By improving the well-being of people around the world and providing tangible incentives through our unique technology, we aim to unite fitness and wellness communities everywhere.”
Though not yet available, Lympo said it is developing the option to sync data with various fitness and health trackers to analyze activity and offer personalized health and fitness advice to users. Eventually, users will be able to receive tokens in exchange for their fitness data, enabling them to essentially monetize their personal health and fitness information.
Lympo’s challenges are offered by both Lympo and partners such as coaches, wellness brands, influencers and various health, sports and fitness associations. Users can choose which of those they’d like to try. When a challenge’s distance is covered, users are rewarded a predetermined amount of tokens. They can track their LYM quantities through an in-app wallet and see data such as the tokens’ monetary equivalent to dollars or euros.
“Lympo is all about making positive changes by taking small steps towards a more active lifestyle,” said Cuban. “Lympo doesn’t require you to drastically change your daily habits, but it’s a great incentive to gain real rewards, like Mavs tickets and gear, for fitness efforts.”
Lympo is hunting for partners to build an ecosystem, promising opportunity for partner businesses to increase brand awareness through sponsored challenges. The Mavericks will be acting as a Lympo partner, and will create challenges that can eventually be exchanged for Mavericks-related prizes, such as game tickets and merchandise.
Behind the scenes, Lympo said it has been actively forming partnerships with elite athletes, including with world champion discus thrower, Andrius Gudžius, and professional female tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki. Earlier this year, Lympo was the first app to reward users for finishing a marathon at the Vilnius Marathon in Lithuania.
