The Chinese government has reportedly looked closely into a crypto-based fitness app in the country, following suspicious activities of illegal fundraising practices and financial fraud.

Reported by Nikkei Asian Review on December 18, the market regulating body of Hunan province capital, Changsha, has placed a fitness app – goes by the name “Qubu” – under its inspecting scope, following the app’s reward scheme – crypto “candies” in exchange for their active status. 

Specifically, every user who managed to walk 4,000 steps daily for a straight 45 days, will be awarded 15 candies, which can be exchanged for cash, or gathered up to gain access to additional features that help earn more rewards. 

The app has run promotions for the candies, advertising them as “wealth management instruments”, with a promise of a great profit deal, reaching up to 36.8% return, within a 60-day timeframe. The fitness app used the extra income bait to get existing users getting new users onboard. 

As of December 2019, Qubu claimed to have 95 million registered clients in its system. 

However, this claim appears to be false, as 1 in every 10 mobile users throughout the nation of China needs to be onboarded to justify for the claim.