While the coronavirus, Kobe Bryant, the US presidential election and giving back to the community dominated 2020 Google search trends, I am 100% positive that Bitcoin will definitely dominate 2021 search trends.
One of the trends that should gain a lot of steam this year is “earning Bitcoin.” It is common knowledge that an individual can obtain Bitcoin by either purchasing it or earning it.
Over the last few years, the focus has been focused on enabling people to purchase digital currencies. This campaign has seen the building of various forms of infrastructure, including exchanges (regulated, unregulated, centralized, or decentralized), OTC desks and other liquidity providers.
While the increased ability for people to purchase cryptocurrencies is essential, it is biased towards the types of individuals who are willing to move a percentage of their wealth into the new asset.
It requires someone to take fiat money and trade it in for the digital currency.
Those people buying cryptocurrencies today tend to be more finance-focused — having a basic understanding of money, markets, portfolios, investments, and/or assets. This understanding is what drove them to look at crypto and ultimately take the plunge.
While the finance-focused population is large, the population of individuals who would adopt crypto if they simply earned it is much larger. These are people who are less likely to exchange their fiat currency into digital currency, either because they don’t have a lot of fiat currency to risk or they don’t have the basic understandings (or interest) in the nuances of finance-related topics.
The “earn crypto” crowd is likely to become interested in the digital currency because it is additive income for them, rather than a requirement to lose fiat liquidity in order to gain digital currencies.
Here are some of the ways people can earn cryptocurrencies in 2021:
Cryptocurrency wages/salaries — Most people get paid by their employers in the national fiat currency that is created by the country that they live in. This is unlikely to change any time soon, but there is an increasing amount of people that work for crypto companies that are choosing to take their salaries (or part of their salaries) in bitcoin or any other digital asset.
Because of how supper attractive the cryptocurrency market has just become in 2021, one can easily anticipate that people will start companies focused on helping organizations run their payroll with cryptocurrencies as the currency of choice, but that may take some time to gain adoption with non-crypto companies.
2. Receiving Crypto As Payment — Another way to earn cryptocurrency can be to accept it as a means of payment for products or services sold or provided. Say, you have a small store selling grocery or flowers, just display a sign “Bitcoin Accepted Here” and many of your customers may prefer to pay through this option.
The payments with Bitcoins can be made with the requisite the hardware terminal or wallet address through QR codes and touch screen apps in case of a brick and mortar store. It is easy to accept bitcoin even for an online business, just add this option along with various other ways like a credit card, net banking, etc to pay.
Online payments will require a Bitcoin merchant tool (an external processor like Coinbase, BitPay) to accept Bitcoin payments.
3. Bounties and airdrops — This is one of the oldest methods that people in crypto have been earning cryptocurrencies for ages. A lot on new projects are looking for influencers, writers, promoters and testers to help push their projects forward in exchange for coins.
Platforms such as bitcointalk and others are overflowing with lucrative opportunities for those who are willing to hunt to earn. Projects such as Newscrypto have even come up with apps that reward users with the native NWC token for simply using the app. However, due diligence is a must if one is interested in this so as not to end up promoting scams that will waste your time and ruin your reputation.
4. Commerce Rewards — Most people purchase goods and services on the internet. By using services like Fold App or Lolli, you can earn “Bitcoin back” on each purchase. This mechanism works identical to the cashback services that you are used to, except you are receiving Bitcoin rather than fiat currency.
5. Cash Back Credit Cards — Speaking of cashback, companies like BlockFi have announced their intentions to launch a credit card that pays the loyalty points/cashback rewards in Bitcoin, rather than dollars, points, or airline miles.
6. Mining —No, we are not talking about heading into a cave with a pickaxe and a hardhat! We are talking about cryptocurrency mining, one of the first ways to ever obtain BTC.
This is the process in which miners use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems. When they crack the code, they are rewarded with newly-minted coins. It is basically a race to see who can solve the block the fastest and those lucky enough to do so reap the rewards.
The ability for someone to turn their electricity into Bitcoin has become more and more popular recently. Companies like Coinmine have made it dead simple to plug in a piece of hardware in five minutes or less and begin mining.
This “passive” income stream is not going to change most people’s lives today, but over time the hardware and software systems will improve to the point that it will become a no-brainer for everyone to have a mining device in their home.
7. Interest Accounts/Staking Rewards — One of the big knocks against bitcoin or other digital currencies is that they provide no cash flow. Numerous companies have built interest accounts that allow an individual to stake their crypto and then earn monthly interest payments on that stake. Staking cryptocurrencies has largely become a primary form of earning passive income in the crypto space.
There is a trade-off between keeping custody of your private keys and earning the interest, so there is obviously risk introduced, but the interest rates can be quite attractive that so many people are electing to participate. Some of the best staking providers include Binance Staking, MyCointainer, Staked.Us, Figment Networks, Coinbase Custody, Newscrypto Platform etc
8. Trading — If HODLing is long-term investing, trading cryptocurrencies is its fast-paced equivalent. Essentially, crypto trading means taking advantage of Bitcoin’s highly volatile nature. This method requires practice and knowledge of the market, so be sure to do your homework before you even think about giving it a shot.
Here are a few styles of trading to get you started:
Day trading — Day trading entails short and quick trades, allowing opportunities for small and fast profits. Day traders don’t hold any open positions overnight, so the method consists of carefully analyzing the market, seeing small money-making opportunities, and capitalizing for a small profit. At the end of the session, day traders could have a significant cumulative gain.
Swing trading — If HODLing is long-term and day trading is short-term, swing trading is kind of in the middle. Like HODLers, swing traders will buy low, wait long enough to see their holdings increase in price, and then sell high. However, their holding time isn’t as long as a HODLer and isn’t as short as a day trader.
Arbitrage —Crypto arbitrage is similar to the styles above. However, instead of looking for money-making opportunities within the same exchange, traders who use arbitrage look for those opportunities across different platforms. In essence, they buy a coin from exchange A then sell it at exchange B for a higher price.
Earning crypto using these methods requires a lot of practice, so do not expect to get it right on the first try. Just do your own research, figure out which strategy is best for you, and trust that you’ll be on your own way.
9. Buying and holding —Buying and holding Bitcoin is the answer to the age-old question of “How to Invest in Bitcoin and make money?”. HODLing, the other term for buying and holding, is one of the most straightforward and most beginner-friendly trading strategies out there. First, get a wallet, buy, and then hope that the price spikes in the future — no matter how long that may take. It could be weeks, months, or even years before you decide to sell.
The term HODL was coined because of this. It started as a typo on a forum, then it became a full-time trading strategy. It also means to Hold On for Dear Life — so it’s essential to look at how Bitcoin is valued and go from there.
10. Gambling — Though gambling is one of the options in the list, it is not the best way to earn bitcoin. There are many casinos which offer different options like online lotteries, jackpots, spread betting, casino games etc to bitcoin players. It is advisable to stay away from gambling as it is a highly risky way to acquire crypto.This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but it should give you a good idea about the various ways that people can earn cryptocurrencies today. This idea should become more prevalent throughout 2021. One reason is that people want to acquire more crypto and do not want to exchange fiat currency to do it.
Another reason is that earning crypto can reduce the KYC/AML requirements attached to that coin — this will become a very popular reason among the privacy-focused crowd.