Blockchain and fitness: Why the two are a natural match

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Blockchain technology has transformed many industries, with new startups springing up to explore new applications for blockchain technology. While the financial industry was the natural first target, blockchain has extended to healthcare, food and beverage, supply chain, insurance, shipping and logistics and many more.

One industry that had missed out was the fitness industry. After all, what does going to the gym or jogging around your neighborhood have to do with blockchain technology, right? Well, wrong.

Staying fit has become an increasingly important concern for many of us. With lifestyle diseases becoming ever more lethal, staying fit can literally save your life. The need for fitness has merged with advances in technology, creating a thriving industry of fitness applications, wearables and activity trackers. The use of smartphones has further enhanced this industry, with mobile health and fitness applications accounting for 3.2 billion downloads globally in 2016.

Blockchain developers have begun to recognize the immense opportunity that the fitness industry offers, and they have developed several products for the market. One of the biggest applications of blockchain in this industry is in the distribution of incentives. As with any other activity, engaging in fitness exercises can be greatly enhanced by the prospect of receiving an incentive.

One such application is Lympo, a fitness app that rewards its users with LYM tokens for the fitness and wellness activities they engage in. The users can then use the tokens to purchase goods and services in the Lympo marketplace which consists of fitness professionals as well as wellness and health goods providers.

A lot of user data is generated and stored by fitness devices, from how many steps you take, the calories you burn while taking your morning jog, how long you sleep, your pulse and much more. This is data that we’d rather keep private. However, most of the fitness applications in the market are prone to data breaches. A 2016 study by Citizen Lab found that over 80% of the fitness trackers in the market have little or no security at all when it comes to their data.

Blockchain solves the problem of data security and privacy in a way no other technology can. Data recorded on the blockchain is not personally identifiable, protecting the privacy of the users. Public blockchains such as Bitcoin SV also ensure that the data can’t be corrupted by malicious parties.

The immense data that the fitness tracker collects daily from you solely belongs to you and as such, any third party that seeks to use this data should compensate you. However, this almost never happens. The companies behind these fitness devices keep the data on their servers and monetize it themselves.

Blockchain technology changes this, allowing users to get compensated for their fitness data. And for a blockchain network to allow effective monetization, it must have very low fees that can facilitate microtransactions. With its transactions fees below $0.02, Bitcoin SV is a perfect fit for this.

Blockchain developers have proven that blockchain technology can revolutionize the fitness industry, an industry that has been dominated by large multinationals such as Fitbit, Apple and Polar Electro. Blockchain can incentivize users to stay fit, help them protect their data and enable them to monetize the large set of data they generate.

It’s therefore up to developers to create solutions that target this multi-billion dollar industry, leveraging the only blockchain network that can massively scale to meet its users’ need: Bitcoin SV.