STEPN News: Move-to-Earn App Upgrades Cheat System to Stop Bad Actors

Solana-based move-to-earn project STEPN has released an artificial intelligence (AI) anti-cheating system to prevent bad actors from exploiting its platform. 

STEPN Launches Anti-Cheating System

In a blog post on Friday, the project said the anti-cheating system dubbed SMAC was created to protect its platform from malicious users.

SMAC has been trained to detect anomalies across the platform, including GPS tracking, motion sensors and health data.  The AI was programmed to target movement simulations by maintaining real walking and running data.

It also uses autoencoders, which are made of neural networks, to identify patterns from low-dimensional representations of high-dimensional data. The technique also consists of three layers known as the encoder, bottleneck, and decoder designed to detect and  analyze the source of anomalies by learning the common behaviors of the system. 

The move-to-earn app noted that users who are caught cheating the system will be subjected to punishments, which entails regulating the users’ access to the platform. 

Defaulters will be restricted from accessing its built-in marketplace and may also experience longer minting of sneakers and slow energy refills. 

“Users running data are cross-referenced with our benchmark standards to check global, contextual and collective outliers at the end of each of their sessions. If the SMAC System detects an anomaly, the user will be flagged as cheating and all the rewards for the session will be erased,” the project said.

STEPN noted that the move is to protect the protocol and its community from cheaters as more users continue to adopt the platform. 

STEPN Surpasses 2.3M Monthly Active Users

STEPN is a blockchain-based lifestyle app that allows users to earn daily rewards for walking, jogging, and running outdoors.

Earlier in May, the project crossed 2.3 million monthly active users, reporting over half a million users daily. As the ecosystem continues to expand, STEPN noted that it has devoted enough resources to combat bad actors from hurting the system. 

The report also highlighted that those who exploit the system for profit are not only hurting other users but their actions also affect the platform’s tokenomics. Cheating affects the liquidity of both its Green Satoshi Token (GST) and Green Metaverse Token (GMT) by inflating and deflating their values. 

Cheating also affects the longevity of the platform as well as its NFT sneakers supply, which is used by users to move, jug and walk outside to earn rewards, the project said. 

STEPN also explained that cheating in its entirety is against its mission to inspire people to live healthily. 

“Cheating is squarely against our ethos. Players who are in the game simply to hack the system are not aligned with our mission to encourage people to go outside, connect with other walkers/runners, and develop healthier habits and a more active lifestyle.”