Today we look at how to earn free cryptocurrency without investing your money or getting ripped off.
As we reach the end of 2021, it’s easy to see that the last year has been good overall for the cryptocurrency world. As the current total market cap for crypto sits at around $2.5 trillion, more people than ever are looking into this asset.
But, what about those that can’t afford to invest in cryptocurrency? Are there ways for these folks to earn a little more of this exciting asset? It turns out that, as the cryptocurrency sphere grows, more and more rewards and options are being offered to entice folks in.
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Why Would You Want to Earn free Cryptocurrency Instead of Investing
In It?
Before we talk about the ways that you can earn cryptocurrency without investing, let’s be clear on the reasons why you might want to do this. Because cryptocurrency is still such a new asset class, there are a lot of questions and concerns around it.
The first reason you might want to earn cryptocurrency is that some of the ways that you can earn these coins and tokens don’t require money from you. Instead, you might be asked to spend time or effort on other projects, rather than your money. In a way, this is like earning some extra money from a side job.
Another reason you might want to explore these earning options is because of financial reasons. The more cryptocurrency you have, the more total money you will have in your portfolio. Whether you immediately cash the crypto out for fiat currency or use it for other purposes, the earned cryptocurrency improves your overall net worth.
Finally, many fans of cryptocurrency view it as a way to obtain financial freedom. These investors believe that cryptocurrency is a way to fuel their goals of having enough money invested in assets to where they don’t have to work again. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but the chance encourages many folks to try to find ways to earn more crypto.
How To Earn Free Cryptocurrency Without Investment
So, now that we know why people would want to earn free cryptocurrency , let’s look at the ways you can do so without investing more money. Most of these methods require extra time or effort on your part, either initially or as an ongoing cost. Still, these little tasks could add up over time to some
decent returns!
Rewards for Shopping
Just like there are web browser extensions that find discounts for you when shopping, there are some projects out there doing the same with cryptocurrency. However, instead of giving you a discount, they instead offer cashback in the form of cryptocurrency.
For example, Lolli is a web extension that is partnered with a variety of retailers. When you purchase from a partnered retailer, Lolli gives you a portion of the sales back into your Lolli account in Bitcoin. From there, you can transfer the Bitcoin out of your Lolli account and into a different wallet or exchange of your choice.
Given that Bitcoin is the oldest cryptocurrency and has been steadily appreciating over time, it could be worth it if you often shop from big brands and retailers from your computer or tablet.
Credit Card Rewards
Most folks are familiar with cash back rewards from credit cards. Credit card companies offer perks like these to encourage folks to sign up and use their card. For those that pay back their cards in full each month, these rewards act as free money that otherwise wouldn’t be available to them.
Some companies like Upgrade and BlockFi offer credit cards that reward their users in Bitcoin rather than cashback. These cards work the same way, however. As you make purchases with the card, you receive a portion of the sales added to your account as Bitcoin. However, unlike cashback, you can remove the Bitcoin from your account once it has been credited to your account, which usually happens once a month.
Sign-up and Referral Rewards
Many of the exchanges and apps in the cryptocurrency sector want to grow their user base. Cryptocurrency is a growing asset class, so to take advantage of that, many services offer sign-up bonuses to attract new customers.
These bonuses could be extra cryptocurrency added to your account after a certain time invested or free crypto to use for trading on an exchange. Most companies look for this bonus to line up with what they want you to be doing with your cryptocurrency in the first place: using their service.
Referral bonuses also give you a chance to earn some extra money. These referrals can be given to friends and family that might be interested in crypto. When someone uses your referral link, both of you receive a perk that can then be used in the service, possibly including some extra crypto.
Participate in a Crypto Faucet
One of the ways people earned free crypto back before centralized exchanges were widely available was through crypto faucets. A cryptocurrency faucet was a webpage that would reward visitors to the website every so often with a small amount of the cryptocurrency the page supported, which was usually Bitcoin.
The goal of these faucets was to increase the adoption rate of the crypto in question. As more people stopped by to pick up their free crypto, they could then take that currency and use it for other purposes.
Now, faucets are one of the many ways that new projects get their tokens out to new users. It isn’t the most effective anymore, but it is a classic way to add some extra money to your wallet.
Receive a Cryptocurrency Airdrop
Nowadays, many of the new cryptocurrencies that enter the space don’t have their own blockchain. Before, it would take a fork, or copy, of an old blockchain to create a new project. That changed when the concept of smart contracts came onto the cryptocurrency scene.
Now, you can make tokens on top of a blockchain, allowing for more folks to create their own crypto projects. To distribute these tokens to new users, airdrops are being used.
An airdrop is when someone delivers tokens to a cryptocurrency wallet as part of a reward or as a way to distribute tokens when a project launches. Most of these projects require some previous interaction with the project before they launch their token, though.
Utilize the Coinbase Earn Feature to Earn Free Cryptocurrency
Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume based in the United States. It was also recently listed in the U.S. Stock Market as a publicly-traded company. Part of what has made Coinbase successful is how easy they make learning about crypto within their platform with their Coinbase Earn feature.
In Coinbase Earn, users can watch videos and learn about the various projects that Coinbase lists on their exchange. You answer questions about these cryptos as you learn about them, almost like a quiz in school. However, instead of getting graded, you receive a small amount of the cryptocurrency in question when you answer the questions correctly.
Coinbase adds these little lessons to their platform when they add a new project to their exchange. If you use Coinbase, check it out periodically to see if there’s a new earning opportunity for you.
Use the Brave Browser Earn Free Cryptocurrency (BAT)
As more people get their entertainment from the Internet, the prevalence of ads online has gone up. The traditional online ads are viewed as a nuisance or annoying since the person seeing the ad has so choice but to watch it without an ad blocker. The Brave browser tries to change that experience.
The Brave web browser is a web browser that rewards users for accepting ads. The browser natively blocks web page ads and instead offers folks a chance to opt into ads purchases using the Brave cryptocurrency. As a reward, the user receives a portion of the Brave token used to buy the ad.
The amount you can earn doing this will vary based on how many ads you choose to see in an hour. Still, this can add up over time. Plus, the ads are pop-ups at the bottom of your screen rather than videos or music that you can’t control.
Enjoy A Play-To-Earn Game
One of the more popular crypto topics at the beginning of 2021 was NFTs. These non-fungible tokens, backed and secured by blockchain tech, are a great way to secure collectibles and their authenticity. Play-to-earn cryptocurrency games are using this and a rewards structure to keep players invested in their games.
In a play-to-earn video game, you receive cryptocurrency rewards for playing the video game. These rewards are added to your crypto wallet, which can then be used to buy collectibles from the game or transfer to an exchange to sell for fiat money.
Earn Interest on Held Cryptocurrency
If you already have some cryptocurrency but don’t want to buy more, you can place that crypto somewhere that it can earn you interest. Many different platforms act similar to a traditional bank, where you store your crypto with them, and they give you interest for the risk of lending them the coins.
Because much of the finance side of cryptocurrency is automated by smart contracts and the blockchain, many of these platforms offer interest rates far better than that of a traditional bank account. However, these platforms don’t have the same level of protection or insurance that a bank receives.
Still, many of these platforms offer amazing rates on Stablecoins, especially those linked to a fiat currency. Depending on how much you deposit, you could receive a few hundred dollars a year if you have a few thousand dollars worth of cryptocurrency already purchased.
Participate in Staking
Over time, many of the cryptocurrencies that have come out have moved away from the proof of work (PoW) consensus model, where miners process transactions. Instead, many blockchains have moved to a proof of stake (PoS) model, where users can stake their coins to nodes that handle the transactions with far fewer hardware requirements.
If you already hold some PoS-compatible coins, then you could place those coins into a node that handles transactions. By doing this, you help move the blockchain along, decentralize the network, and earn yourself a little bit of the transaction fees as a reward.
For those that have a large amount already invested, you could also set up a masternode and receive all the fees for yourself. Regardless of what you choose to do, staking is an easy way to earn a little more crypto using what you have already.
FAQ
With all the ways there are to earn free cryptocurrency out there right now, it’s an exciting time to be looking at cryptocurrencies. However, this range of options also comes with its own set of confusion and questions.
Here are some of the common questions we’ve seen out there for earning cryptocurrency:
Can You Earn Free Bitcoin Without Investing?
You can earn Bitcoin without investing in the coin. You can do this by signing up for certain programs or converting earned cryptocurrencies from other offers into Bitcoin using an exchange.
How Do I Earn Free Bitcoins?
Reward programs, some credit cards, and Bitcoin interest accounts can all earn you Bitcoin without having to pay for new coins.
Do I Pay Taxes on Earned Crypto?
When you earn free cryptocurrency, it is treated as earned income up U.S. tax law. So, you’ll have to make sure you keep track of your coins and what price you earned them at to report your taxes legally.
Earn Free Cryptocurrency Conclusion
Cryptocurrency has had an explosive year in 2021. A lot of both independent and institutional money has entered the space, allowing for more people than ever to earn some extra money with the right programs.
If you’re looking to earn some free crypto, then the easiest thing to do is to move your coins to a place where they can earn interest through staking or lending. Otherwise, check out some of the new projects offering rewards for buying or doing the things you already were doing.
Regardless of how you get your crypto, be proud in joining this potentially radical shift to the way we do finances as we move into the future!