- Why did we create this App?
We see Burning Man as a creative social experiment. We hope the app can motivate people to walk more. Some experts recommend that one should try to walk 10,000 steps a day but most people walk far fewer steps. Can we burn together, to walk more?
- Besides encouraging healthy behaviors, what else does the app aim to accomplish?
We are also curious to see if we can get enough Burning Man users to burn the number of calories equivalent to offsetting the energy needed by one server to mine a single bitcoin.
- That sounds cool. So how many steps is that?
Our estimates indicate that the calroies burnt walking approximately 7.5 billion steps in a month equals the power consumption for mining 1 Bitcoin in month (details of the approximate math can be read at http://bit.ly/BITMATH).
That may sound like a lot. But 7.5 billion steps is equal to 25,000 people walking 10,000 steps a day for 30 days. Not bad! So if we eventually have 1 million users, we would be burning off enough calories to match the energy consumed to generate 40 Bitcoins a month.
- Does this App actually use my device for Bitcoin mining?
No, absolutely no. We don’t install any Bitcoin mining software or run background processes to utilize your device’s computing power to mine Bitcoins.
- Ok, so what does this App have to do with Bitcoins?
The app rewards you with payouts earned as Bitcoins based on the number of steps you walk, compared to everyone else and the number of Bitcoins available every month. At the end of the month, we will transfer your earnings to your Bitcoin Wallet. The App has nothing to do with Bitcoin mining or trading in Bitcoins.
- Do I need to provide my Bitcoin Wallet ID?
Yes you will need to save your Bitcoin ID at some point in the settings page so that we can transfer your earnings at the end of each calendar month.
- Will providing my Bitcoin Wallet ID cause any security/privacy issues?
Not really. Bitcoin Wallet ID is meant to be publicly shared so you can receive money from others. By providing that information you don’t compromise the security of your wallet or your privacy. We don’t store or share any other identifiable information
- What if I don’t have a Bitcoin ID?
You can create a Bitcoin ID in just a few minutes on sites like Blockchain.info or Coinkite.com and then save that ID in our App. If you absolutely don’t want to use bitcoins then just email us at info@trialx.com. We may consider sending payouts via Paypal in equivalent USD.
- How many Bitcoins are available to be earned each month?
The number of Bitcoins available to be distributed will be determined based on the number of users in the Burning Man App community. We will start from 2 Bitcoins in a month and increase that as the community grows.
- I see that my Bitcoins earned fluctuates from time to time? Why does this happen?
The App displays “your share” of Bitcoins earned for the given calendar month as you progress through the month. This number changes since the share you earn is calculated based on the number of steps you have walked as compared to the number of steps every one else in the community is walking. So if you walk more, relative to others, you can see your share increase, and similarly it can go down if you walk fewer steps on certain days.
- I see that my step count shows Zero for the month? How can that be?
The App reads your step count from Apple’s HealthKit data storage on your device. For us to be able to get this information, you need to give the App permission to do so. This is done when you use the App for the first time. If however, you press “Done” on the permission screen without giving access to your step count, then the App will show zero steps. To enable permissions, you will need to go to your device Settings and under Privacy give the Burning Man App access to your steps data.
- Does the App need Internet Connectivity to work?
Yes. Even though HealthKit can send your step data to us without Internet, we need connectivity to sync your step count with our database and to update the numbers. This also explains why you may see some changes in the numbers when you access the App offline versus when it is online.
- When will I get my payment?
We will send the payment within 2-3 business days after the completion of each calendar month.
If you have any other questions, comments or feedback, ping us at info@trialx.com