In a rather shocking announcement, move-to-earn app STEPN revealed that it will soon stop supporting users from China. While the company won’t be removing user accounts from China, the move certainly doesn’t bode well for its user growth. But what prompted STEPN to make this decision? Read on to find out more.

Why won’t the STEPN app support users from China soon?

Effective July 15 at 24:00 UTC+8, STEPN will stop providing GPS and IP-based geolocation services to users from China. According to the company, the move was made as part of the company’s compliance with the Chinese Law Restricting Geographical Data in China.

According to the law itself, only entities with special permission from the State Council in China are allowed to conduct surveying and mapping work within the country. In its Twitter post, STEPN made it clear that the team never planned to start operations in China. To avoid violating local laws, the app will soon stop supporting users from China.

What did the Chinese users say?

Many STEPN users in China will certainly find this decision disappointing. However, some fans were grateful as the app had helped them achieve their fitness goals. One user even commented that exercising in nature is supposed to be fun. So, STEPN or not, staying healthy is way more important than anything.

STEPN’s governance token $GMT fell more than 18% after the announcement. However, the token price has quickly recovered. At the time of writing, $GMT is trading at $1.06. In comparison, the token reached an all-time high of $4.50 at the end of April this year.

Given that STEPN is set to lose a large chunk of users from China, it’s unclear how the app will survive in the coming months. In particular, the app relies heavily on new users burning $GST and $GMT tokens to upgrade their sneakers. At the end of the day, we should only invest what we can afford to lose in P2E games.