I first wrote this article in April 2017. This is indeed history repeating itself. While a few years ago, one bitcoin traded for $ 14,000, today it is trading above $ 30,000. It had even reached $ 40,000 on some exchanges only a few days ago. While four years ago, the frenzy was caused by retail investors with FOMO (fear of missing out), the situation is quite different now. Institutional investors have come on board and use it as a hedge against fiat currency inflation and as a store of value. Some even predicted bitcoin to climb to such lofty highs as $ 146,000. While I am a big fan of cryptocurrencies, and have been for many years, such price targets appear slightly ambitious.
With no further ado, here the updated article from four years ago. I took the recent developments as an opportunity to update the many ways to earn bitcoin and other cryptos.
Bitcoin is climbing from one high to the next. But not just bitcoin; the majority of altcoins are gaining in value as ever more people, companies, and financial firms jump on board for fear of missing out on some significant gains. You may have already asked yourself: how can I join the bitcoin and altcoin craze? Is it worth buying bitcoin, litecoin, and friends? After all, if you don't buy some cryptocurrency now, it may be too late and their prices higher and potential gains even more profound. As they say for dogecoins: “to the moon”. Particularly bitcoins seem to journey ever closer to the moon, the sky the limit.
Today bitcoins are at $14,000 after surpassing the $9,000 mark just a few weeks ago. Nine grand, more than seven times the price for an ounce of gold. Is this the new gold rush that you may be missing out on? Or has the bitcoin price already run its cause and is about to consolidate? If so, it might offer you the opportunity to buy much cheaper.
The problem with cryptocurrencies is: they don't have any intrinsic value, they are, just as most other currencies, driven by the trust people place on their stability and thus how much they believe a currency is worth. Very different from shares that represent a value such as the cash, material, client base, innovations, and equipment including all machinery. At the given price, bitcoins may therefore simply be too expensive for many to join the craze now. If you are interested in how bitcoins actually work and what they are, I'd recommend these articles on what a bitcoin is and bitcoin mining and trading.
Maybe another currency then? Maybe it would be better to put your hard-earned cash in cryptocurrencies such as litecoins, dogecoins, monero, or dash? But all of the older cryptocurrencies have enjoyed steep price increases in recent months and years. Should you mine them instead or maybe opt for another alternative that allows you to earn bitcoin and its brothers and sisters? Let's take a look at the different ways you can earn bitcoins, litecoins, dogecoins, monero, dash and other altcoins.
Mining:
Mining is an easy way to earn bitcoins, litecoins, and other cryptocurrencies. At the same time, it is these two that are amongst the most difficult to mine today. In order to successfully mine bitcoins and litecoins, but also other coins, you first need to invest a heavy sum of money in proper equipment. Mining bitcoin with CPUs, that is your laptop or PC will process the calculations for which you are essentially awarded bitcoins, is a fruitless endeavor. You won't be able to compete with all the mining farms and professional miners. You could compare mining with your computer's CPU versus professional mining farms to a gold miner with a shovel versus a gigantic digger. It's not a fair battle.
Other coins such as dogecoin and monero are still mineable, but not the grand daddy bitcoin. For any mining operation to be truly successful, you'd be best served to buy some ASIC processors, but they are relatively pricey. With mining thus out of the question for most, what other way is there to earn some bitcoins and enjoy some of the great profits that can currently be made in the world of cryptocurrencies?
Get paid or receive donations in bitcoins:
Ideally: If you have clients, ask them to pay you in bitcoins instead of Euros, Dollars, or Yen. However, reality may be that the great majority of your business clients are not yet familiar with cryptocurrencies or are simply not in a position to pay you in bitcoins. You may be much better off to add your wallet addresses to your website, youtube channel, blog, or other online presence and ask for donations. Get your wallet address for bitcoins, litecoins, dash, and all other currencies by downloading the relevant wallet (i.e., software package) such Multidoge for dogecoin or Electrum for litecoin and bitcoin.
However, get the light versions of the wallets, as they require much less space on your computer and will serve you best for the average use. You can compare the light wallets to your online bank account; only that you are the bank yourself and are in full control over your wallet. You can also get an online wallet such as coinpot.co, however in the past some online wallets were hacked. It is thus much better to be in full control over your wallet and install a light version on your computer.
But what if you don't have your own site, youtube channel, or instagram presence, or simply don't feel like asking for bitcoin donations. There is a third option.
Mine other coins and convert to bitcoin:
As there are still a number coins that are mineable with your laptop or PC's CPU or GPU, you can mine altcoins and convert them to bitcoin through any of the exchanges or many of the available wallets. Coinpot.co, for instance, offers the option to convert four other coins (bitcoin cash, dash, dogecoin, and litecoin) to bitcoin, or vice versa. You can indeed exchange any for another of the five coins. Many desktop wallets have in-built options allowing you to exchange your coins to bitcoins. Alternative you can use an exchange. Whatever your choice, beware of possible transaction fees and the conversion rate, as it may affect the number of bitcoins you will get for your coins. Amongst those altcoins that can still be mined on a regular computer and don't require expensive ASIC processors or whole mining farms are vertcoin, dogecoin, and monero.
Faucets:
Finally, the least cash-intensive, but most time consuming way to earn bitcoins and other altcoins are faucets. From bitcoin to litecoin faucets, monero to dash faucets, dogecoin and bitcoin cash faucets, there are a number of site that will give you a small amount of your preferred cryptocurrency for free. How do faucets work? Your traffic earns the site owners The more often you return to claim, the greater their site traffic and thus the greater the income from advertising revenue on their end. The best faucets that I have found are:
Bitcoin faucets:
FreeBitcoin
Freebitcoin allows you to claim bitcoins every hour. The twist, you can win up to $200 worth of bitcoins (although, I have never seen it happen). There's a minimum amount you can claim every hour, but it is also possible to gain thousands of bitcoins.
The freebitcoin faucet doesn't pay much - only a few satoshi. However, it is an easy way to get into bitcoin and earn some without putting your hard earned cash at risk. If you enjoy betting, freebitcoin might be more for you. You can bet on anything from sports events to the presidential election. Any bitcoin held on their site earns 4.8%. Thus, while no longer the best site to earn bitcoin, their betting section might appeal to some.
Cointiply
Cointiply is much more than than a bitcoin/dogecoin faucet. It allows you to earn by watching videos, viewing ads, completing surveys, and playing games. For the time being, I can truly say that it is the best faucet that I have come across. It also offers a loyalty bonus that increasing your faucet share by 1% with each day that you make at least one claim. I only started using them during the lockdown and have so far earned around $ 100. Not an amount to shout about, but given that I only use them in lieu of checking instagram while watching a show on Netflix, this is quite a nice way of earning some bitcoin without investing my hard earned cash or sacrificing time that I could use otherwise much more productively.
Cointiply also pays interest on your coins. You need to have at least 35,000 coins in your wallet to earn 5%. Another big positive is that you can withdraw your coins either as dogecoin or bitcoin. Just enter your dogecoin or bitcoin wallet address and feel a few thousand satoshi richer.
A couple of things that are noteworthy:
In order to withdraw dogecoin, you need a minimum of 35,000 coins. For bitcoin the minimum threshold is 50,000. Given the current highs for either dogecoin and bitcoin, you might want to wait for a better exchange rate, as all coins held on their websites are in fact USDs. In other words, 35,000 coins translate to $ 3.50 and 50,000 dollars to $ 5.00. The exchange rate, if you will, is 10,000 coins are worth one dollar. Thus, you are well advised to withdraw your coins during drops in the price of bitcoin or dogecoin to get the most satoshi for your "hard work".
A word of caution: Stay away from any of the moon faucets. These are scam sites that do not pay. I am speaking from own experience. A couple of years ago I used their faucets and at the time, with bitcoin being in the low thousands, the satoshi, dogecoin, litecoin, and dashs were rolling in. So I thought, at least. Upon trying to cash out and transfer the coins to my personal wallets, my account was blocked and all my coins gone. Even after multiple attempts to contact the webhoster via email, though my account was unlocked, the coins had disappeared from the online wallet that is used by all the moon faucets. Thus, the second word of caution, stay away from the online wallet coinpot, as this is run by the same people behind the below faucets: moonbit, moondoge, moonlite, moondash, moonbitcoincash.
The hottest contender on the block, Moneros. There's also a faucet to earn monero. You can claim every hour and can earn from a few hundredth to a tenth of a monero.
Bitcoin poker:
This is the most fun way to earn bitcoin, at least if you enjoy poker. I love poker for its combination of luck, statistics, psychology, and strategy. This is particularly true for tournaments where strategy and psychology carry a larger weight.
Before the world went into a never-ending lockdown, I played poker with friends. Sandwiches, beers, the whole nine yards. We never played for serious cash, just for fun. With real-life poker no longer possible, I set out to find a good online poker site to play the occassional game. As an avid reader of Captain Finance, you know I will not put my hard-earned money at risk and as such I set out to find a bitcoin poker site. The best site that I found is blockchain.poker. The registration process is really simple. Just click on Sign Up and start playing. No need to enter any personal details and true to the spirit of bitcoin, you are the only person with access to your account details. As registration is anonymous, you are given a username and password (both you can change in your settings on their site), there is no way to contact anyone in case you forget your login details. Thus make sure to write them down.
Blockchain.poker provides you with 100 free satoshi to get you started. I have been playing since late last year and have turned the 100 into a few million satoshi. In fact you can play with three different bitcoin forks; the original bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and bitconi sv.
Here are the links to the respective bitcoin poker site. You can switch your preferred currency for playing at any time on their website.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin SV
There are no withdrawals fees for the latter two. Bitcoin withdrawals, however, come with a 25,000 satoshi fee.
Here you have it. The four ways that will allow you to join the cryptocurrency craze and earn bitcoins, litecoins, and other altcoins.
A side note: when you click on any of the links above, they will help fund Captain-Finance.com. As you know there is no advertising anywhere and the above are referral links.
