“For every 1000 steps you get 1 Fitcoin”, says René Zielhorst of the purely Breda company It’s My Life. “The Fitcoin app has now been downloaded 30,000 times.” Pupils from two schools in Oosterhout have now also registered for the Fitcoin project. “It’s simple: whoever moves with the Fitcoin app collects digital coins that you can exchange for a voucher or a nice gift.”
Two secondary schools in Oosterhout have joined with enthusiasm. Since this week they have been using the Fitcoin to get young people moving. Why? “Because only one in four young people meets the minimum exercise guideline per week,” according to the municipality. What is that guideline? For the age group of 4 to 18 years, that is an hour of vigorous exercise every day.
The municipality has engaged the company It’s My Life to get the Oosterhout darlings moving. “150 companies and/or schools are now using our Fitcoin app,” says creator René Zielhorst.
“That is 15,000 participants, now including students from Oosterhout schools. When the app was launched at the ‘Het Curio’ secondary school, more than three hundred students immediately downloaded the app and became participants.”
“The students of De Zwaaikom and Het Curio have received a code from us with which they can log in to the app,” says Simone Maas of the Oosterhout municipality. “After registration and connection with, for example, a pedometer, the app registers the amount and duration of the movements. More exercise means collecting more digital Fitcoins.”
“They can exchange the saved Fitcoins again. Fifteen minutes of cycling is already good for 1 Fitcoin,” says René Zielhorst. In Oosterhout, the first Fitcoins sported together – after the sports lesson – were mainly converted into a Bubble Tea. “However, the healthy soup in the canteen was also very popular at the De Zwaaikom school community,” says Simone Maas. “The price of the healthy soup was 1 Fitcoin, but you can also save for vouchers from local entrepreneurs.”
René Zielhorst came up with the idea of the Fitcoin during a refueling. “Someone wanted to exchange their Airmiles. Completely normal, but the idea immediately popped into my head to start rewarding people if they exercise more. This has led to the development of the Fitcoin app, among other things. It has taken off enormously in the last two years, during corona.”
“Companies, institutions and schools take out a subscription,” says Zielhorst. “With that subscription, they receive a code with which their participants can use the Fitcoin app.” The name Fitcoin is indeed based on the Bitcoin. “It all started with a slip of the tongue.”