“How much do you value your sweat coins at... people then would say anywhere between one and 5 cents and then we ask them how much would you sell your sweat coins from and guess what the answer was... 50 cents to a dollar.”

Users Value Their Own Coins at 10x What They'd Pay for Someone Else's

When asked to price their own sweatcoins versus what they'd pay to acquire someone else's, users revealed a 10-50x asymmetry: they'd buy at 1-5 cents but wouldn't sell below 50 cents to $1. This reflects the emotional value of effort-earned progress. It's also why sweatcoin deliberately didn't make coins fully fungible: a discoverable market price would destroy the perceived value. The more a virtual currency feels 'earned' rather than 'purchased,' the more psychologically potent it becomes.