The importance of the IoT platform to the Health & Fitness industry is expanding rapidly. Additionally, this focus area is vital to building a destination for a vibrant and health-oriented community. Across the world greater percentages of people are moving up and out of economic impoverishment into the middle class. As the world improves economically and educationally, increased incomes will expand the number of people that are conscientious about living healthy and productive lifestyles.
Globally, the Health & Fitness (“H&F”) industry is an $80 billion market growing at a 6% rate. The U.S. alone represents $32 billion of this market. There are 153,000 health club facilities in the world (36,000 in the U.S.) serving 131.7 million members (55 million people in the U.S.). The percentage of the population that are health club members is very small compared to the overall world community of 7 billion people. Further down the penetration level are wearable devices focused on health: for example, FitBit participating members total 27.6 million users. The Apple watch has a slightly higher % of the population, and their reported usage of the watch for exercise is 79%. This base, while small, are vocal and trend setting. Their future influence on the behavior of the larger population will be significant as blockchain applications merge with these devices, and the economic well being of the population improves.
The blockchain and IoT have a great window of opportunity to take advantage of 5G wireless on mobile devices and wearable devices. For example, the Ethereum platform company LYMPO has a fitness App that pays people for walking and running. The App is downloadable from the iOS and Android App stores. Every day they offer challenges to their community that when met are rewarded with their token (LYM). They have 200,000 members, a 100% increase from the March 31, 2019 number, who have walked or run 1.6 million miles with 600,000 completed challenges. All data is stored on the blockchain. The company is partnering with advertisers, professional sports teams, athletes, and others. It sees the future opportunity to work with the Insurance industry, the food industry, the healthcare products industry and the sports industry to enhance information about people who live healthy lifestyles, to reduce costs of health insurance, and to encourage people to realize the benefits of making money from doing and recording their daily activities in a seamless and convenient way.
Focusing on fitness in the United States, we see this quality of life endeavor is promoted every day. From apparel brands, sneaker brands, lifestyle products, health aids, and nutrients/food, the interest on the part of the entire population as we try to avoid aging and to extend our lives is exceptionally high. Educational institutions, workplace environments, community gyms and health clubs, juice bars and health restaurants, will support the needs of the community through promotional opportunities for blockchain DApps and IoT services. The global opportunity for health and fitness related blockchain based products is significant.
As a passionate supporter of technology aimed at revolutionizing the status quo, Tom Connolly currently advises on disruptive technologies with a primary focus on opportunities evolving within the crypto-asset and blockchain sectors. The opportunities evolving within the Crypto-Asset and Blockchain sectors has been his focus since 2014. Tom possesses a rich and diverse background that includes corporate senior executive roles (Sony) and key leadership roles within Ernst & Young (Managing Partner of Media & Entertainment).
