Stages Cycling Goes Crypto

Stages Cycling has just signed up with a company called OliveX and in the process has gotten itself into the Crypto Gaming World that few of us understand. Here’s a brief explainer.

 

 

For the love of all things two-wheeled…Why?

Please note this is not a post originally scheduled for April 1st 😉 and it’s not as crazy as it might at first seem. It’s real.

Let’s start off by saying that it’s not just Stages that are doing this. Zombies, Run! is another fitness player that you may possibly have come across and they’ve also signed up for the same technology.

Explainer:

OliveX BVI is simply a company. You can forget the name but instead remember the cryptocurrency they’ve created called DOSE and you can buy it with Euros, Dollars and Pounds and spend it too albeit only within the participating companies’ digital worlds/apps.

However, there’s one more key element and that is fitness gameplay. As you use your fitness app you will earn DOSE rewards for certain behaviours like hitting those power levels or nailing that weekly streak of pushups.

Acronym: DOSE-Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphin

After you amass a certain number of DOSE coins you can spend them on in-game boosts. Or maybe to increase your cycling power by 1%…whatever, that’s just the first example that sprang to mind. Maybe you could buy some fancy virtual clothing or upgrade your virtual bike to a TT bike. Yes, this does sound a bit like Zwift!

The twist here is that the DOSE coins you accumulate with Stages Cycling could equally be used in the Zombies, Run! app. Or, if Zwift supported DOSE, you could use it in Zwift.

The intention is for OliveX is to create the go-to currency for all eSports and virtual fitness platforms.

There will be cross-platform value for apps/companies that sign up to DOSE. Users may switch behaviours to participating apps to earn more DOSE points to spend in their virtual worlds of choice.

From the company perspective, there will be a cost-savings from not having to create & manage a proprietary points/currency mechanism and marketing benefits fro being part of a more widely promoted program.

 

If you’re still confused,  see DOSE as a frequent flyer reward scheme. You earn points for flying Pan Am and can spend them on renting Avis cars at your destination. As an analogy, think about why Avis might have signed up for PanAm’s loyalty scheme.

 

More techy stuff about DOSE that you wish you hadn’t read

 

DOSE is built on the Ethereum blockchain. If you have any friends who talk about crypto mining it’s highly likely they will be mining/creating Ethereum. Mining crypto is like printing money for solving an equation and has a cost associated with buying a computer and running it with electricity. (Most real money is created digitally by the Central Banks and not printed paper…so it shouldn’t be hard to understand that Crypto/Bitcoin/Ethereum are just other currencies…pounds…dollars…Euros…whatever)

The eventual size of Ethereum is fixed. Furthermore, DOSE reserves a fixed part of the same Ethereum blockchain and there can only ever be 5 billion DOSE tokens. Unlike real money, Crypto usually has guaranteed scarcity and scarcity is a fundamental part of economic value.

Digression: Remember that the FED can print a billion more dollars tomorrow (QE) and, if they print more currency, your money becomes less valuable as a result of the ensuing inflation, precisely as we see today. You simply can’t increase the total number of Bitcoin/Ethereum possible and there can’t be more than 5 billion DOSE tokens. Admittedly, if there is zero demand for Dose then it has zero value 😉

Technically, DOSE is an ERC-20 Fungible Token. Now you know ;-). You can buy DOSE on several crypto exchanges like crypto.com and Uniswap and, no, I’m not recommending it!

Why Stages Cycling?

I’m not entirely sure why Stages are getting involved here. No doubt Ray’s interest will be piqued by this story and he will be able to get someone to spill the beans.

My guess is that Stages will be initially linked to an upcoming Virtual Fitness game called Dustland Rider and maybe similar fitness games will evolve into a future that competes with Zwift.

Dustland Rider is the coming cycling fitness gameplay that combines SOL Cycling and DOSE to provide an entire new experience of Spin To Win, Cycle for Reward. SOL Cycling gives users a new cycling experience on Mars. Ride or run at your own pace with the NASA Rover, or sweat your way through the SOL story! The full version will provide users with more terrains, routes, story missions and models., especially the merge with DOSE so users can get token for reward when cycling.

The deal with OliveX Fitness Metaverse will see Stages Cycling’s range of smart bikes, power meters and indoor cycling classes to users within The Sandbox, as well as virtual avatars, apparel and branded NFTs, giving users the ultimate experience and thrill of cycling utilising OliveX’s move-to-earn fitness model. Bloomberg

 

 

Take Out

Why?

aka: I must be getting old!

DOSE is probably a good idea. Something like DOSE will eventually emerge and be widely accepted across fitness apps. Go back and think of the analogy to that frequent flyer scheme or your local frequent shopper loyalty program.

I’m not into digital challenges at all, many readers here probably aren’t either, however, a LOT of other people are…that’s why a multi-platform, crypto reward and incentivisation scheme is a great idea. I suspect the only people that will make money out of DOSE will be its creators, so don’t go investing your pension pot in buying DOSE coin right now.