11 Safe Ways to Earn Cryptocurrency

Let’s face it – everyone wants to earn some cryptocurrency. We don’t want to miss out on another spike in the price of crypto coins.

But the cryptocurrency market is uncertain, and most of us don’t want to risk losing our hard-earned money.

Here are some of the best ways to get your hands on some crypto coins at a minimum risk (and sometimes effort).

1. Earn cryptocurrency by buying

The most straightforward way to earn crypto coins is just like with most things in life – buy them.

Buying cryptocurrency is now easier than ever before.

As the industry gained a lot of popularity in the past few years, its demand increased. Many companies started offering services that enable anyone to easily and safely enter the market.

But how can you buy cryptocurrency?

Buying Bitcoin, for example, can be as simple as going to a Bitcoin ATM and getting it with cash or credit. Though other crypto coins aren’t so accessible, so you can only buy them via crypto exchanges.

But there’s one thing you should consider – transaction fees.

On most of the online exchanges, the transaction fees are updated in real-time, based on the fluctuations of the market. And the fees themselves are pretty low.

ATMs, on the other hand, tend to have high transaction fees. So it’s usually advised to buy Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) through websites such as Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken. And most of the times, the process is really simple.

All you have to do is sign up for an account, verify it, and you’re good to go.

However, some exchanges require verification from your bank, and this process can take up to several weeks.

If you’re in a hurry, you may want to check the sign-up and verification process, or just buy with cash directly.

2. Start mining crypto

Mining is a great way to get some crypto coins. But it doesn’t work for all currencies.

Most people believe that mining is about obtaining as many coins as possible for yourself. But the whole process is a bit more complex.

Through mining, a person uses his computer to solve complex mathematical equations that validate blocks of transactions. All the cryptocurrencies are already created inside a protocol, but they must be validated to become available on the market.

As a reward, the first person that validates it receives a fragment of the virtual token he validated.

But what do you need to start mining?

First off, it depends on what you want to mine. While Bitcoin mining requires high-end equipment such as ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), others can be mined with just a regular computer.

But if you want to try your luck with Bitcoin mining, you don’t have to invest thousands of dollars to get started. You can always join a mining network. All you have to do is pay the joining fee, and then you can work together with other members to mine. The only downside is that you’ll also have to split the rewards.

Some of the best cryptocurrencies that you can mine right now are:

• Ethereum (ETH)

• Monero (XMR)

• Dash (DASH)

• Litecoin (LTC)

3. Earn crypto by staking

If you’ve got your eye on some coins that can’t be mined, don’t worry. There’s still a way to get them.

There are 2 main methods of validating blocks – Proof of Work and Proof of Stake.

While PoW requires users to mine the blocks and confirm the transactions through pure computational power, PoS works totally different.

In a Proof of Stake system, the person to confirm the creation of a new block is chosen in a deterministic way, based on the number of coins he already holds. 

Staking looks a lot like a lottery game. The more coins you hold and put into staking, the more chances you have to be chosen to validate the transaction.

But in order to stake, you need to hold several crypto coins, so this method works great only if you want to increase your stocks.

4. Earn Crypto with DeFi Yield Farming

Known as Yield Farming or Liquidity Mining, Decentralized Finance projects come with a reward system that resembles the bonds market in away.

In the most straight forward understanding of this process, Yeld Farming is a method of generating rewards from locking up cryptocurrencies. As you lock in your funds and grant liquidity to a Defi token, you will get rewards and interest. Depending on the project you can get additional tokens besides the yield.

Some of the most prominent DeFis that you can mine right now are:

• Compound (COMP)

• Kyber Network (KNC)

• 0x (ZRX)

• Ren (REN)

5. Join a few airdrops to earn coins

Airdrops are a great way of taking early advantage of emerging projects.

Most projects use airdrop campaigns to gain an initial level of notoriety and create a community around their project. This is a great tactic because it helps crypto enthusiasts find out about upcoming projects while also providing them with something of value – tokens.

In exchange for performing a specific set of tasks, users receive some of the project’s tokens.

Once the project hits the market, those tokens can be traded for other coins or sold for cash. Some of the most common tasks include:

• Following their social media channels;

• Sharing posts;

• Signing up on their platform;

• Downloading their app.

6. Help promote projects through microtasks

Microtasks are very similar to airdrops.

Commonly known as bounties, they may be, together with airdrops, the simplest way of earning a crypto coin.

Many startups and companies offer crypto coins as a reward in exchange for performing various tasks. However, when compared to airdrops, microtasks are a bit more difficult.

The tasks are mainly promotional, and they can take the form of:

• Creating a video review;

• Writing a testimonial;

• Writing a press release;

• Distributing a promotional video.

There are many websites which list airdrops and bounties, so if you’re looking to stock up on some emerging crypto coins, here’s where you should get started:

• 99Airdrops

• Airdrop Alert

• Bounties Alert

7. Start freelancing and get paid in Bitcoin

However, you can take microtasks one step forward and choose to get paid in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency for working.

There are countless platforms which facilitate freelancing through blockchain technology. Most of the platforms don’t have any costs or transaction fees, so the employee receives exactly what the employer pays.

Freelancing is a great way of starting out your professional career. And while it might be a bit risky to accept payment in Bitcoin due to its volatility, you can always opt for a more stable cryptocurrency.

If you’re looking to get into the freelancing business, here are a few places to start:

• Ethlance

• Cryptocurrencyjobs

8. Accept crypto payments

Do you own an e-commerce website?

Then it’s your time to shine.

Platforms such as Shopify or WooCommerce allow merchants to accept cryptocurrencies as payment through their website.

And I’m not talking only about Bitcoin.

WooCommerce allows its users to accept some 50 types of crypto coins, while Shopify goes even higher, with more than 300.

And the process isn’t even complicated.

For Shopify, all you have to do is enable an alternative payment method from your Shopify account.

For WooCommerce, you’ll have to install one (or more) additional plugin, such as BitPay or CoinGate. Once installed, just activate it, configure it, and you’re good to go.

9. Join a network of publishers

Do you have a website, but it’s not for e-commerce? Then you can still earn some coins.

Since Google banned or restricted crypto-related businesses from advertising through its network, the advertising industry had to adapt.

Countless crypto ad networks (such as Coinzilla) appeared to fill the market’s advertising needs. Their platforms created vast networks of crypto publishers, where advertisers could place their banners.

In return for displaying ads, the publisher gets paid. And while most networks will pay out their users in only one currency (such as EUR or USD), many also do payouts in cryptocurrency.

SIDENOTE. This is a simplified explanation of the whole process. We covered in-depth the differences between Ad Networks, Ad Exchanges, and DSPs in a previous post which you can find here.

10. Use cryptocurrency and payment platforms

How do you manage your payments?

Digital banking is going forward and is covering more and more of the needs of cryptocurrency users. So, cryptocurrency and payment platforms like Crypto.com, now offer financial management applications that can help you earn more cryptos by using the funds you already have.

Besides earning cryptocurrencies from depositing and picking up the interest, you can profit from cashback functionalities.

We all have daily, weekly, or monthly spendings. So, if you still have to pay for everything, use a card from such a fintech company to gain some of your money back.

In Crypto.com’s case, you can earn up to 5% back on all spendings by using the Metal Visa Card. 

11. Earn Bitcoins from crypto faucets

One way to earn cryptocurrency without investing money is through faucets. You will still need to give it quite some time and keep your determination up.

There are lots of cryptocurrency faucets that you can join, and most of them either pay in Bitcoin or in Ethereum. Those that pay out Bitcoin will reward their users with Satoshis for every micro-tasks, and those that pay out Ethereum will reward Wei.

The system of a faucet is quite simple to understand. You have to watch ads, complete surveys, and play games to be rewarded a small portion of a cryptocurrency. Then you can cash out your cryptocurrency once you reach the minimum withdrawal limit.

Although it can feel quite slow, a crypto faucet can get you to earn your first Bitcoins, if you’ve got the time and determination.

Final thoughts

The crypto industry is huge.

Through this post, I tried covering some of the safest methods of earning, so that’s why I didn’t include activities such as trading.