--- title: "New Cryptocurrency Makes You Exercise to Mine Coins" description: "Wellness culture has really gone too far this time. " date: "2022-04-21" modified: "2022-04-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cardiocoin-metabike" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "the digest" - "the metaverse" - "wellness" --- # New Cryptocurrency Makes You Exercise to Mine Coins ![Wellness culture has really gone too far this time. ]() *\Image: Cardiocoin\* ## Cardiocoins Wellness culture has really gone too far this time. A South Korea-based company with the on-the-nose name Cardio Healthcare Company is not only launching a metaverse that you access atop a bespoke stationary bike, but it's also created an in-world cryptocurrency that you have to, [per a press release](), "move to earn." The concept behind the "Metabike," as Cardio Healthcare calls its glorified VR spin class, sounds a bit like [that one episode]() of "Black Mirror." Users play games in the "Cardio HUB" on their TVs or tablets, while using the company's fitness bike — and as a reward, they accrue Cardiocoins, a cryptocurrency the company launched yesterday. https://twitter.com/SilvermanJacob/status/1516803719832211458 ## Please No As ridiculous as the concept of paying for a fancy stationary bike so that you can earn crypto sounds — [according to project literature](), it's even "cheat-proof" — Cardiocoin has apparently garnered a ton of interest and has been [listed as one of the fastest growing new coins]() since it debuted on April 19. https://twitter.com/Alex_Vasquez86/status/1516634784843317256 According to the press release about the Metabike and Cardiocoin, the beta testing of the project at gyms in South Korea "has verified 43,744 Km of exercise distance through 25,712 workouts over 7,449 hours of exercise, and users have received rewards worth around $10,000." We'll be interested to see where it goes, nevermind whether people figure out how to game the system. Maybe, though, exercise should be its own reward. **More crypto shenanigans:** *[Crypto Stocks Are Doing Absolutely Horribly]()* **More metaverse madness:** *[Zuckerberg Dogpiled Over Plans to Monetize the Metaverse]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()