Cryptocurrency has evolved dramatically over the past decade, transitioning from a niche digital curiosity to a popular financial asset. With the value of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies going up, more people are looking to earn money on these opportunities. Whether you're new to the crypto world or have experience, this guide will walk you through eight proven methods that I tried myself to make money with cryptocurrency in 2024 and beyond.
How to Get Started with Making Money in Crypto?
Before diving into the various strategies, it’s crucial to lay a solid foundation. Start by researching the different types of cryptocurrencies, how they work, and the risks involved. Understanding these basics will help you make informed decisions and minimize potential losses. For example, I usually take a look at the market capitalization of each crypto that I’m interested in (e.g. Bitcoin, or Ethereum) using https://coinmarketcap.com/.
There you have lots of information such as the price over time, the exchanges where you can buy and sell the coin, as well as the maximum number of coins that will ever be available.
With all this together, you can do an analysis on whether this coin is interesting to be earned, whether you believe that this will go up over time, etc.
Then, you can thing how to secure your cryptocurrency. You can either use hardware wallets, software wallets or storing your crypto on an online exchange. Hardware wallets are the safest option but it requires you to never forget the password and usually you cannot have so many earn opportunities, while online exchanges are a bit more risky because you depend on the stability of the exchange and how safe it is to possible hacks. However, it offers you many opportunities to earn money, such as staking, earn programs, etc.
Let’s go over these 9 ways to earn free crypto and bitcoin in 2024
1. Lending: Earn Interest on Your Crypto
I put this first because it’s my preferred option and where I usually have most of my crypto gains. Cryptocurrency lending platforms allow you to lend your coins to borrowers in exchange for interest. This method can provide a steady stream of income with minimal effort.
Interest Rates: These vary depending on the platform and the type of cryptocurrency you lend.
Exchange earn programs: many of the current exchanges have earn programs in which you can earn up to 24% of the stacked coins by just staking when some reward levels are achieved. I gave a summary of the best earn programs and exchanges here.
Example: You lend 1 Bitcoin on a platform like YouHodler or Nexo and earn an 5% annual interest, giving you an extra 0.05 BTC at the end of the year.
2. Spend with a crypto card
One way to earn crypto without having many risks associated to it is to just spend with your card and get cashback in cryptocurrencies. Then you do your normal shopping in Euros or USD and you basically get a percentage back in crypto to your exchange. Some of the most popular cards are Nexo, Plutus or Crypto.com. I’ve done a dedicated guide explaining the best cards for 2024 here.
· Cashback %: This quantity varies usually increasing when you accumulate coins on the exchanges. For example, Plutusand Binance are offering up to 8/9% when you accumulate enough of their coins, Nexooffers quite a fix percentage of 2% and Crypto.com up to 5% when you accumulate a lot of their coins.
· Perks: Many of these exchanges have perks associated to it, in which you get a total value of 10 USD or EUR paid back to you on certain brands of supermarkets or online services such as Spotify, Aldi, etc.
· Risk: The only risk is that you accumulate their coins in order to get a higher cashback and the coin devalues over time, making you lose value the amount of crypto that you bought in the beginning (This happened recently with Plutus for example).
Example: You do your daily shopping and spend 100€ in Aldi and you get 10€ worth of Plutus back to your exchange plus 8% of the remaining 90€. In total I would get 17.2€ back from my daily shopping.
3. Staking: earn passive income with your crypto
Staking is a similar concept implemented for some cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum. It involves holding a certain amount of cryptocurrency in a wallet to support the operations of a blockchain network. In return, you earn rewards in the form of additional coins.
Interest Rates: The rewards from staking can vary significantly depending on the cryptocurrency and the network. Some coins offer higher returns, making them more attractive for staking.
Example: If you stake 10,000 Cardano (ADA) coins in your wallet, you might earn a 5% annual return, resulting in 500 ADA by the end of the year. This can be done in a wallet or in an exchange such as Nexo or Binance.
4. Mining: The Original Way to Earn Crypto
Mining is one of the earliest methods of earning cryptocurrency and remains a viable option today. It involves verifying transactions on the blockchain and adding new blocks to the chain. In return for their efforts, miners are rewarded with cryptocurrency.
Hardware Mining: Requires specialized equipment and significant electricity, making it a resource-intensive option.
Cloud Mining: Allows you to rent mining resources from a data center. While less profitable than hardware mining, it's more accessible and requires less maintenance. Some of the platforms such as YouHodler allows you to do this cloud mining by just clicking and earning money every month.
Example: If you decide to mine Bitcoin, you'll need a powerful mining rig and access to affordable electricity to make it profitable. Alternatively, you could join a cloud mining service like Genesis Mining, which handles the hardware for you, of course at a lower profit margin.
5. Trading: Buy Low, Sell High
This is the closest to stock exchange trading. Cryptocurrency trading involves buying and selling coins on an exchange to profit from price fluctuations. This method can be highly lucrative but also comes with significant risks. Moreover, in many countries, this method involves the payment of high taxes on profits, since you’re trying to time the market and therefore speculate.
Day Trading: Involves making multiple trades within a single day, capitalizing on short-term price movements. A friend and I developed an algorithm that was doing day trading using the Binance API (I may do a dedicated post explaining that). It was not working that bad, but it was also not doing massive profits and you were paying the fees of transaction plus any wins needed to be declared because we were not holding the crypto for more than a year.
Swing Trading: Focuses on longer-term trades, holding positions for days or weeks to capture price swings. This is my favourite of both because it’s more friendly to saving with taxes (e.g. in Germany you don’t need to pay taxes on crypto if you hold it for more than 1 year without selling it), and also because the prices of crypto since 2009 tend to follow the timings of halving. So I usually try to time in these periods of 3-4 years of when the bitcoin halving occurs and wait for prices to go down to 15%+ before I buy coins and then try to sell them at the maximum of the cycle (following the price going up about 3 times the maximum of the last halving cycle). E.g. in 2018 it went up to 20k, down to 10/5k and then up from this to 60/70k in 2021, which was about 3 times the 2017 value. For 2024/2025 I would wait until the price is about at least 180k (i.e. 3 times 60/70k) before selling a part of it, and keep buying recursively (every month) or trying to buy even higher quantities when the price goes about 10-15% down. This is my way of doing and it’s not financial advice! It’s just how I like to do this strategy since I started investing in crypto in 2015.
Example: You buy Ethereum at $1,500 and sell it at $1,800 within a week, netting a $300 profit per coin. However, if the price drops, you could also face losses.
6. Investing: Hold for Long-Term Gains
Investing in cryptocurrency is about buying and holding coins for an extended period, waiting for them to appreciate. This strategy is ideal for those who believe in the long-term potential of crypto.
Diversification: Spread your investment across multiple cryptocurrencies to minimize risk. See my guide on how to minimize risk here.
Research: Understanding the market and the technology behind the coins you invest in is crucial.
Example: If you had invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2016, your investment would be worth significantly more today, highlighting the potential of long-term holding.
7. Yield Farming: Maximize Returns on Your Crypto
Yield farming, also known as liquidity mining, involves lending your cryptocurrency to a platform and earning interest or other rewards. It's a popular method in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Platforms: Not all platforms are reliable, so choose wisely to avoid potential scams.
Example: By providing liquidity to a DeFi platform like Uniswap, you can earn fees generated from trades on the platform.
8. Affiliate Programs: Refer and Earn
Many cryptocurrency exchanges offer affiliate programs where you earn commissions by referring new users to the platform. This method requires no investment in crypto, making it accessible to anyone.
Commission Rates: These vary between platforms but can be a significant source of income. However, for a proper affiliate program, you need to have a decent amount of followers for the exchanges to accept you in such programs. Otherwise, you can at least use the referral programs of your exchanges, in which you invite people and you and the person invited both get between 10 and 50 USD (see this section for the invite links if you want to create a new account and help me grow this page).
Example: You refer friends to Binance through your affiliate link. For every trade they make, you earn a percentage of the fees they pay.
9. Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): Invest in New Projects
ICOs are a way for new cryptocurrency projects to raise funds by selling tokens to investors. While they can offer high returns, they also come with high risks, as many ICOs have turned out to be scams.
Due Diligence: Always research the project thoroughly before investing in an ICO.
Example: You invest in an ICO that promises to revolutionize the supply chain industry. If the project succeeds, the tokens you bought at a low price could appreciate significantly.
3 More Ways to Earn Free Cryptocurrency: Bonus Strategies
Beyond the traditional methods of earning cryptocurrency, there are also several creative and low-risk ways to get started with free crypto. These options are perfect for beginners who want to dip their toes into the world of cryptocurrency without a significant upfront investment.
1. Sign Up with an Exchange
One of the easiest ways to earn free cryptocurrency is by signing up with a crypto exchange. Many exchanges offer sign-up bonuses in the form of free coins when you create an account and make your first deposit. This method is both safe and straightforward, making it an excellent entry point for new users.
Example: Binance, YouHodler, Nexo, OKX, Kucoin, Crypto.com, Kraken, Gate.io, Plutus frequently offer promotions where you can receive Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies just for signing up and making a small deposit. With my links on the exchanges you can earn 100 USD of commisions on Binance, 10 to 25€ on YouHodler, Nexo, OKX, Kucoin, Crypto.com, Kraken, Gate.io. and 50€ on Plutus.
Pro Tip: Keep an eye out for time-sensitive promotions, as exchanges often run special offers that can increase your earnings.
2. Participate in Airdrops
Airdrops are promotional events where developers of new cryptocurrencies distribute free tokens to participants. To qualify for an airdrop, you typically need to follow the project on social media, join their community on platforms like Discord or Telegram, or participate in other promotional activities.
Caution: While airdrops can be an easy way to earn free crypto, many are scams or involve tokens that end up being worthless. Always research the project thoroughly before participating.
Example: Some legitimate airdrops have included projects like Uniswap, where early adopters who used the platform received a significant amount of UNI tokens for free.
3. Earn While You Learn
Some platforms reward users with free cryptocurrency for learning about different blockchain projects. These "learn and earn" programs are designed to educate new users while giving them a small amount of cryptocurrency as an incentive.
Example: Binance and Coinbase Earn allows users to watch short videos about various cryptocurrencies and complete quizzes to earn small amounts of the featured tokens.
Pro Tip: While the rewards from these programs are typically small, they offer a risk-free way to learn about new projects and diversify your crypto holdings.
Final Thoughts: The Importance of Research in Crypto
Making money with cryptocurrency offers numerous opportunities, but it’s not without risks. Whether you're mining, staking, trading, or investing, thorough research and understanding of the market are critical to success. In this guide on 8 ways to earn free crypto in 2024, I gave you some insights on opportunities that you can follow to earn cryptocurrencies.
Disclaimer (read full disclaimer here)
The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always conduct your own research and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
By following these strategies and staying informed, you can navigate the exciting world of cryptocurrency with confidence and make the most of your investments in 2024 and beyond.
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