Maybe you’re leery about cashing in your real, live fiat cash for digital currency. Maybe you don’t really understand the market enough to know when it’s a great time to buy and when you ought to lay low. Maybe you just want to pick up a little something on the side in a new and technologically exciting arena.
Whatever your motivation, it’s now possible to earn Bitcoins. It’s just money, after all, albeit of the digital variety. The ecosystem sprouting up around Bitcoin and Bitcoin alternatives – or altcoins – isn’t just hackers, techno-geeks, and millionaire investors.
For the ecosystem to really grow and thrive, it needs everyday folks getting and spending their digital currency. And just like in the traditional finance world, the most common way to get money is to work for it.
Luckily, Bitcoin adoption is spreading fast, and that means there’s a wealth of new ways to earn Bitcoin and altcoins. Here are some leads on your next Bitcoin job.
Craigslist
Believe it or not, the original peer-to-peer selling network allows you to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment option. Making money via Craigslist is easier than you think, and it can easily make up a second income.
The secret is finding a niche. Some folks troll through the Craigslist classifieds looking for items that they are knowledgeable about – say, antiques, classic cars, or computer parts. They then either snap up these in the free section or negotiate a price that they know they can improve upon by either adding value to the item or selling it into a more motivated market. We’ve all heard the semi-urban legends about lost masterpieces in the attic.
If you’ve got an eye for rare or unique items, keep a sharp eye on Craigslist for great finds. Once you’ve got your merchandise, so to speak, you can relist the item with cryptocurrency as the desired payment method. There’s nothing quite so satisfying as turning one person’s junk into your own digital treasure.
ProBlogger
ProBlogger hires blog content creators to generate content for their clients. The clients’ needs are as diverse as their blogs, and many traditional payment methods are offered.
Would-be bloggers looking for cryptocurrency payment, in particular, would do well to find blogs that specialize in that subject. Many of the currently listed blogs offer cryptocurrency as a payment method.
After all, what better way to promote crypto usage and adoption than by paying for your content with it? This can have the dual advantage of making you more knowledgeable in the crypto field in general. Think of it as a free education in your new crypto hobby – with the bonus of earning cash that may someday skyrocket in value.
XBTFreelancer
This is an online marketplace for both prospective employers and employees who are interested in doing business in Bitcoin. Many of the jobs are tech oriented, so if you’re web developer or you’ve got some coding skills, this can be a great way to translate your extant skills into digital currency.
However, there are also opportunities available within the crypto arena itself. Some initial coin offerings are promoted via bounty campaigns. These campaigns pay participants – usually in the native coin – to find bugs on their website or in their code, share information about the coin on social media, or shepherd online discussions.
The promoters of the coin often use an algorithm to track your progress and then reward you in a fixed schedule with drops of the coin in question. Yes – it is totally possible to earn altcoins by hitting “Like” on Facebook.
BitWage
BitWage allows you to get paid in Bitcoin by any regular employer. You set up a BitWage account and are provided a digital bank account number.
Your existing employer deposits a portion – or all – of your pay into the BitWage account. BitWage then converts that fiat currency into Bitcoin and deposits it in your personal wallet. The conversion cost is purely related to transaction fees.
The beauty of this system is you can earn Bitcoin while continuing to work your regular old 9–5. It removes the additional steps necessary in taking your earned fiat currency to an exchange, trading it for Bitcoin, and then transferring those Bitcoins back out to your personal wallet. You can easily set a fixed percentage of your pay to be instantly converted into Bitcoin, creating a digital savings account with almost no effort.
ads4BTC
We mention this because it’s a possibility, but be forewarned – paid-to-click sites typically pay only very small amounts of Bitcoin.
However, the work couldn’t possibly be easier. Ad revenue on the internet is primarily generated by clicks. The more clicks an ad receives, the more folks that ad reaches and the more exposure the advertised product gets.
Websites like ads4BTC will pay you tiny amounts of money to click on ads, typically every few seconds. Again, it’s true that the payouts are small – usually measured in cents per click.
Still, if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind surfing the web while watching TV and clicking on an ad or two every so often, this can be an interesting way to start collecting Bitcoin. Think of it as picking up change on the sidewalk. You’re unlikely to get rich, but a penny is a penny, right?
Faucets
This is another low earner, but it’s even easier than the paid-to-click site. You simply log in and view the faucet. Maybe you switch to viewing another faucet every so often, collecting a small amount of Bitcoin each time.
Why is anyone giving away Bitcoin? The catch is that faucet site operators litter their pages with ads, in the hopes that the traffic generated by folks eager for free Bitcoin will be outweighed by the referral money they get from ad clicks.
It’s not usually required that you click on an ad, but it is required that you view the site and click a link to receive your Bitcoins. Running a faucet is generally much, much more profitable than visiting them, but you’ll need some specialized skills for that – along with a ton of internet traffic. Like the paid-to-click sites, faucets can provide a steady but slow drip of Bitcoin for very little effort.
Mining
You’ve probably already heard the horror stories surrounding Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin miners, for the most part, use expensive equipment and truly enormous sums of electricity to do the proof of work necessary to mint new Bitcoins. The good news is we’re not talking about Bitcoin mining. That ship has long since sailed for the Average Joe.
However, there are quite a few coins for which mining is still profitable. These altcoins can either be collected for their own value or traded later on an exchange for Bitcoin. Some are more difficult to mine than others, but all are accessible to the home computer user.
Hopefully, you’ve gleaned a few new ways to earn Bitcoins by either doing what you’re already doing or picking up a fun and easy side gig. Just remember, you’ll need a digital wallet to store your new crypto gains, and always keep your private key safe and secure.
