UPD: StepN Denies Layoffs, but Is Still Going through a Transitional Period

In the related article we wrote that despite the downturn and the bear market, StepN has a lot in the pipeline, and may see a bright future when the bear market is over. However, some disturbing news about the company has spread in the media.

Alex Harutunian

Oct 21, 2022 - 2 min read

The story with StepN layoffs is a bit complicated, let’s try to unravel it. On October 12, a crypto reporter Colin Wu tweeted that based on community sources StepN began to lay off staff amidst the bear market.

The famous blockchain game STEPN began to lay off staff in the bear market. It will mainly lay off more than 100 MODs, ambassadors, etc., and will reduce investment in STEPN, and some development progress has been delayed. According to community sources.
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 12, 2022

This conclusion contradicts with the tweet from StepN’s CEO Yawn Rong the previous day where he said that the company is going through a transitional period, their vision is shifting, but they are trying to be transparent with their audience. Literally nothing about layoffs or stepping backwards.

3/5 This month, we are focusing on the road ahead. We are running on! Our team must concentrate on ongoing projects full-time, so we will not be hosting an October Town Hall. In the meantime, we will be devoting all of our resources to progressing to the next stage of FSL.
— Yawn Rong (@yawn_rong) October 11, 2022

Wu made an assumption that StepN was winding down and began to focus on promoting its parent company Find Satoshi Lab, and on the future projects to be released.

Later on StepN officially called the layoff claims false and inaccurate. They explained that they had to part ways with some volunteer MODs that were inactive for several weeks. The company added that instead they intend on hiring for numerous different roles. The “Careers” tab on the StepN website, where candidates can fill out a form expressing interest in working for the company, is still live.

In May and June this year, StepN saw a massive spike in monthly active users, but then around July it saw an equally massive drop-off, from which it has never recovered. The token is also not feeling well: now it is down 84% from its all-time high.

Seems like the app is keeping afloat and even making progress, however, there is a big question whether it is scalable, and whether the model where people benefit from exercising that basically exceeds the money they're spending on the platform could work. We continue to observe.