How I Got Paid in Crypto for Walking in Circles Around My Room 🌀₿

I’ve done some questionable side hustles before.

I’ve been paid to review socks. I once earned $4 naming virtual mushrooms. I even tested an app that gave me money for staring at my ceiling fan for three minutes (don’t ask).

But nothing prepared me for the absurdity of getting paid in cryptocurrency — actual digital coins — for pacing in circles around my bedroom.

It sounds like a scam, right? But it wasn’t. And somehow, it was one of the most strangely satisfying “jobs” I’ve ever had.

The App That Started It All — “StepLoop”

I found out about StepLoop in the least glamorous way possible: a pop-up ad while I was doomscrolling on a rainy Tuesday.

The tagline hooked me instantly:

“Turn your steps into crypto. No gym, no sunshine, no problem.”

Unlike other fitness reward apps that want you to jog around a park or clock 10,000 steps outside, StepLoop promised you could earn crypto without leaving your room. All it needed was movement — any movement — detected by your phone’s sensors.

The idea was ridiculous enough to deserve a test run.

Setting Up — Easier Than Making Instant Noodles

I downloaded StepLoop, set up an account, and was immediately faced with the most unusual onboarding question I’ve ever seen:

“How big is the space you plan to walk in?”

The options ranged from Tiny (1–2 meters) to Large (10+ meters). I picked Tiny, since my bedroom was more “postage stamp” than “ballroom.”

The app connected to my phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer, and just like that, I was ready to start “earning.”

The First Session — Confusion, Laughter, and Crypto

I hit the big Start Walking button, put my phone in my pocket, and began circling my bed like a confused cat.

The app displayed a little animated coin that grew bigger with each lap. At 50 steps, it dinged. At 100 steps, it gave me a congratulatory message:

“You’ve earned 0.0000025 BTC!”

That’s… about 12 cents.

It didn’t matter. The novelty of seeing actual Bitcoin appear in my balance just for pacing like a man waiting for a kettle to boil was hilarious.

After 10 minutes, I had 0.000007 BTC — around 35 cents. Not much, but my inner crypto nerd was already imagining what it could be worth in five years if Bitcoin’s price exploded again.

Why Walking in Circles Actually Works

It turns out StepLoop isn’t magic — it’s clever marketing disguised as absurdity.

Here’s the breakdown:

Data Collection — Your walking patterns help improve indoor step-tracking algorithms, which fitness tech companies buy.
Crypto Sponsorship — The app is funded by a small blockchain startup that uses these “micro-payouts” to promote their crypto wallet.
Gamification — The coin animations, milestones, and streak bonuses keep you coming back.

They basically turned a simple motion sensor test into a goofy, gamified crypto faucet.

The Strategies I Discovered

Like any “earn by doing nothing” system, there were tricks:

Tight Circles = Faster Steps
Smaller loops register more steps in less time. My most profitable sessions were me practically spinning in place.
The Pocket Shake Hack
I’m not proud of this, but gentle pocket shakes sometimes register as steps. Not all the time — the app has anti-cheat detection — but enough to matter.
Streak Bonuses
If you do at least one 5-minute walk every day for a week, your crypto earnings per step increase by 20%.

Week One Earnings — The Surprising Math

I treated it like an experiment:

Day 1: 15 minutes walking = 0.000010 BTC (~50 cents)
Day 3: Discovered tight circles = 0.000018 BTC (~90 cents) in the same time
Day 7: With streak bonus = 0.000025 BTC (~$1.25) per 15-minute session

By the end of the week, I had 0.00013 BTC in my wallet — around $6.50 at the current rate.

Not bad for what was essentially light cardio and existential pacing.

The Weird Side Effects

It wasn’t all fun and free crypto. After day four, I noticed two strange things:

Furniture Grazing — I kept bumping my hip into my desk because I wasn’t watching where I was going.
Circular Thinking — I started associating “thinking through problems” with walking in circles, which led to pacing during phone calls without even turning the app on.

Can You Actually Make Serious Money?

The answer depends on your definition of “serious.”

At the current payout rate, walking 30 minutes every day nets around $12–$15/month in Bitcoin. If crypto prices skyrocket, that could multiply, but it’s still not a replacement for a real job.

The value is in the fact that it’s almost effortless — no gym membership, no special gear, and no leaving your house.

The Funniest Place I Tried It

I once ran a StepLoop session during a Zoom meeting with my camera off. My boss probably thought I was taking notes. In reality, I was looping around my kitchen table and silently racking up 0.000003 BTC.

Why I’m Weirdly Addicted

It’s not the money — it’s the absurdity.

There’s something oddly satisfying about knowing that somewhere out there, a blockchain record exists of me earning Bitcoin by literally walking in circles.

It’s like I’m a character in some dystopian video game where even the smallest, most pointless human actions can be monetized.

Written by the author, Fatima Al-Hajri 👩🏻‍💻

✅ Sources

Lewis, M. (2024). Gamified Fitness and Micro-Payments in the Blockchain Era. CryptoTech Journal.
StepLoop Official FAQ (Accessed July 2025).
Reddit Thread: r/CryptoSideHustles, “Bitcoin for Walking in Circles,” May 2025.