Nowadays, we can almost say that cryptocurrency is mainstream. Most people with access to the internet have heard of Bitcoin and its incredible price. So, people like us who know the hustle of making a side buck can’t help but wonder how to earn cryptocurrency. But our common question isn’t’ just how to earn cryptocurrency but how to earn cryptocurrency without investment.
So, let’s get started!
Learn about crypto to earn crypto
Yes, we’re referring to the Coinbase learn and earn program. Right now, that’s the most popular option to get around $30 to $50 in different cryptocurrencies.
However, you need to be eligible first. What does that mean?
Well, first, you need to be located in one of the following countries:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, or the United States.
If you are from one of those countries, you only need to complete and verify your profile, and you’re good to go.
Usually, it takes around a day to get access to the learn and earn crypto program; however, once in, you get access to anything that comes out.
By now, you should get access to:
- Stellar Lumens (XLM)
- The Graph (GRT)
- Enzyme (MLN)
- Bounce Token (AUCTION)
- Compound (Comp)
- NKN (NKN)
- Chiliz (CHZ)
- Rally (RLY)
- BarnBridge (BOND)
- Balancer (BAL)
- Ampleforth Governance Token (FORTH)
- Polygon (MATIC)
- Skale (SKL)
- Nucypher (NU)
- Celo (CGLD)
- Universal Market Access (UMA)
- Numeraire (NMR)
- Band Protocol (BAND)
- Maker (MKR)
- Filecoin (FIL)
- Algorand (ALGO)
- Zcash (ZEC)
- EOS (EOS)
- Orchid (OXT)
- Kyber Network (KNC)
- Tezos (XTZ)
- DAI (DAI)
- Basic Attention Token (BAT)
- 0x (ZRX)
Besides Coinbase, there also are similar programs on Binance, Phemex, Cake Defi, and CoinMarketCap. However, they are not always active. But you can still keep an eye on them. Maybe you get lucky.
Microtasks and crypto faucets
Another popular way to earn cryptocurrency from scratch is through microtasks and faucets. How so?
In the case of microtasks, you need to look for bounty programs associated with an ICO or a cryptocurrency project. Usually, these bounties consist of writing tweets or retweeting a project’s tweets, writing an article, creating a video, translating something, and other types of activities that can help promote a cryptocurrency.
This activity has some risks as you might get to promote a scam or get paid in shitcoins that may never reach any value. But if you search enough, you may even find bounties that pay in cryptos that already have a stable value (like getting paid in BUSD).
In your research, you may even find websites that list bounties for several projects, but before you sign up for them, make sure they’re paying.
Speaking of microtasks, you can sign up to a faucet and watch ads or do other tasks to earn some cryptocurrency. The advantage is that the tasks are centralized and provided to you directly. But on the other side, they pay peanuts.
It’s true; if you have the time and are consistent enough, faucets can even get you around $200 without too much effort. But you may reach that amount after a year or so.
Become a publisher to earn cryptocurrency
What does it mean to become a publisher? Well, it means that you have to create a website, write content and do your best to get traffic.
It can take a lot of time to get a decent amount of traffic, but if you have the discipline to earn $200 in crypto by hustling on a faucet, you most likely can raise a website.
The best part about the cryptocurrency industry is that most mainstream advertising platforms prohibit cryptocurrency. So, there are cryptocurrency dedicated ad platforms that pay a lot better than Google Adsense.
One of the best ad networks you can join as a publisher to earn cryptocurrency is Coinzilla.
They have an established ad network and pay well, but they are notoriously strict about admitting a new website.
So, if there is anything sketchy about your website, they will identify it and reject it without second thoughts.
It may sound harsh, but that’s how they grew and got the trust of their advertisers.
Read our full Coinzilla Review to find out more.
Freelance and get paid in cryptocurrency
While working on your cryptocurrency website, you can become financially independent by putting the effort and skills into providing valuable services for different people on the internet.
If you access platforms such as Cryptocurrency Jobs, Ethlance, and Latium you will find different listings that pay in cryptocurrency.
This is perhaps the best way to earn crypto, as you provide a service in exchange for payment. It is still working, yet it’s on your terms, and you’re your own boss.
And the best part is that as a freelancer, as you get more jobs done successfully, the more jobs you will receive and increase your revenue.
What skills do you need to be a freelancer?
Besides some sales skills and interpersonal skills, you should be proficient in one of these areas:
- Marketing
- Content writing
- Design (Photo/Video)
- Web Development
- Soft Dev
- Project management
- Quality analysis
Earn cryptocurrency with DeFi Yield Farming
When you’re already sitting on some cryptocurrency assets and want to continue hodling, you can make use of Yield Farming and Yield Mining to passively earn more crypto.
In a way, it works like traditional investment funds. You give your money to some investment funds for a period of time, they use it for whatever purpose, and you get a yield for letting them use your money.
In DeFi, you can give different types of cryptocurrency coins and tokens as liquidity to various platforms or liquidity pools and earn a yield.
Nowadays, you can get cryptocurrency yield not only from landing platforms but also from various investment platforms. So, you may either go to specific yield farming platforms to invest separately or give your assets to a fund and let them work for you for a fee.
When it comes to DeFi Yield Farming, the returns vary a lot.
Some of the safer platforms talk about Yields and APRs of 2-10%, while other emerging projects promise even 50-200% annual returns.
Whatever you choose, make sure to research the platform thoroughly.
Hunt Sign Up Bonuses
There are many opportunities to earn some crypto just for signing up. For starters, Crypto.com, Coinbase, and Huobi have bonuses for signing up through referral codes. Also, you may even get a trade bonus credit.
Depending on the platform you sign up to, you can get rewards from $10 to 1 Bitcoin.
Just make sure to read the terms and conditions before. Some bonuses are eligible only after you make a deposit or can be used for trading only.
Even so, if you get, let’s say, 0.1 Bitcoin and trade around carefully, you can still make quite a profit. And usually, the profits are withdrawable.
Earn crypto from staking
Lately, Proof-of-stake has become the hottest topic in terms of cryptocurrency consensus mechanisms as it emphasizes a reduced use of resources to confirm transactions in a decentralized way.
However, although modern protocols have implemented ways to assure that transaction confirmation is not monopolized by a few whales, you still need considerable funds to open a staking node in most networks.
Ethereum asks for 32 ETH. Tezos asks for 8,000 XTZ.
There are Cardano and Algorand that state there is no minimum stake for opening up a node. However, the lower your stake is, the lower your chances of confirming transactions will be.
Additionally, you need to avoid downtime at all costs.
In this regard, you can choose to delegate your stake to a pool and earn safely but pay a fee.
Also, nowadays, you can earn crypto not just from staking regular tokens but from NFTs as well. Read our NFT Staking article to find details.
How about mining?
Opening up a cryptocurrency mining operation can be expensive. Yet, you can get a lot of cryptocurrencies without buying them. And if you earn them before a bull market, your returns can be exponential.
Bitcoin mining requires high-end equipment such as ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit); others will require video cards to build a mining rig.
Here, you must consider your energy cost, setup cost, and replacement cost. Also, it’s best to join a network with lower competition.
Yet, if you decide to try your luck on major blockchains to get BTC or ETH, you should consider mining with a mining pool. That’s because there are massive operators that fill up industrial deposits with chips to make sure they are the first to confirm transactions and earn the rewards. If you mine on your own, your chances of beating them are slim.
Some of the best cryptocurrencies (besides Bitcoin) that you can mine right now are:
- Ethereum
- Ethereum classic
- Zcash
- RavenCoin
Yet, if you don’t want to get too technical, you may as well look into cloud mining. But do that with caution.
In conclusion
Even today, earning cryptocurrency without buying is possible. Still, it’s not as easy as the early days when you could just use a spare computer to mine some crypto and gain a lot of BTC.
Now, you have to hustle a little more and research the platforms and opportunities that can give you the best cryptocurrency earnings.
Also, keep in mind one thing while researching: If someone offers you a “magic, secure, granted” way of getting rich in crypto, they’re most likely lying. Therefore, take your time building a cryptocurrency portfolio and watch out for the next rally.
