Did you get into crypto hoping to make it big, maybe even fast? It’s a common dream when first venturing into this space. But what happens instead?
Lost sleep? Heart-wrenching losses? Scam attempts? Enough things to make you want to jump out of the ecosystem without making any money.
But what if there was a way to fix all that? Well, there is. Aside from trading crypto, crypto investors can also make money by earning crypto rewards.
This guide will focus specifically on how to earn crypto rewards. We’ll explore about 15 methods to help you earn these tokens and also discuss how you can safeguard them. Let’s get right into it.
What are Crypto Rewards?
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Essentially, crypto rewards are incentives. You contribute something valuable and the project or network rewards you for your effort or participation. These rewards are strategic tools designed to build and grow their ecosystems.
Why Projects Give Crypto Rewards?
Some of the top reasons why crypto rewards are given are outlined below;
1. Providing Network Security
Many crypto rewards, especially from staking, incentivize users to lock up their crypto. This helps secure the network, making it more robust and attack-resistant.
2. Ensuring Liquidity
Decentralized exchanges need pools of crypto so people can trade easily. Rewards for Liquidity Providers (LPs) encourage users to deposit their assets, ensuring there is enough digital cash sloshing around for smooth swaps.
3. Growth & Marketing
Airdrops, learn-to-earn campaigns, and referral bonuses are classic growth hacks for new projects. They attract new users, create buzz, and encourage people to try out a platform or token.
4. Community Participation
Some projects reward users for voting on proposals (governance) or testing new features. This keeps the community involved and invested in the project’s direction and success.
What You Can Earn as a Crypto Reward
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Crypto rewards come in different forms. Here are the most common;
Native Tokens
This is the most straightforward type. You earn the main token of the blockchain or protocol you’re involved with. Staking Ethereum earns you more ETH, staking Solana earns SOL, etc. The value is directly tied to that specific project’s performance.
Governance Tokens
These tokens often grant you voting rights on the project’s future direction. They can be earned through participation, providing liquidity, or even using a platform early on (like Uniswap’s UNI airdrop).
Stablecoins
Sometimes, rewards are paid out in stablecoins (like USDC, USDT, DAI). These are designed to hold a steady value, offering a more predictable income stream compared to volatile native tokens.
Other Project Tokens
Occasionally, you might earn tokens from a partner project, a special promotional token, or a secondary token related to the platform. For example, when the X Token launched, people earned some tokens by playing Hrum or participating in the MAJOR Community.
How to Earn Crypto Rewards
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While these methods are not guaranteed to be get-rich-quick schemes, and each comes with its own set of risks and requirements, there is a big chance to earn crypto rewards if you do any of the following;
1. Staking
Staking generally involves locking up your cryptocurrency to help validate transactions and secure a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain network.
Staking is straightforward.
You commit your tokens to the network either by running your validator node (complex), delegating your stake to a trusted validator (most common), using liquid stacking platforms (which give you a token representing your staked assets), or directly through different crypto staking platforms.
The crypto rewards are typically paid in the network’s native token (e.g., stake ADA, earn ADA). Sometimes, you can also get auxiliary rewards like a share of transaction fees or bonus tokens from specific promotions.
2. Lending Your Crypto
Holding some assets in a crypto wallet somewhere? How you earn crypto rewards in this case is to lend some of that crypto to others and earn interest. This happens on both Centralized Finance (CeFi) platforms and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols.
With CeFi Lending, you deposit your crypto onto a centralized platform (e.g, Nexo). The platform manages the loans and pays you interest.
For DeFi Lending, You deposit crypto into lending pools on protocols like Aave or Compound. Borrowers take loans directly from these pools, and you earn interest algorithmically. You retain more control but interact directly with smart contracts.
Again, the crypto rewards are usually paid in the same crypto you lent (lend USDC, earn USDC interest) or sometimes in the platform’s native token.
3. Providing Liquidity (LP)
Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap or Sushiswap need liquidity pools so users can swap tokens. With these providers, you can earn crypto rewards by becoming a Liquidity Provider (LP) and depositing your asset into one of these pools.
You get LP tokens equivalent to the value of the tokens you deposited into a trading pool. If someone swaps tokens using that pool, you will also earn a percentage of the trading fees in proportion to your share of the entire pool.
4. Participating in Crypto Events & Promotions
If you’re still wondering how to earn crypto rewards, another way is by participating in the special crypto events held by exchanges or projects to boost engagement or celebrate milestones.
These events range from trading competitions to token launch participation, community challenges (e.g., social media tasks), or limited-time promotions offering enhanced rewards for specific actions.
Crypto rewards for participating in events can vary between bonus tokens, NFTs, discounts on trading fees, exclusive access, or direct airdrops.
5. Catching Seasonal Rewards
Similar to regular events, some platforms give special rewards during specific times of the year or anniversaries.
A platform might temporarily increase staking yields, offer deposit bonuses, or run special trading campaigns during holidays, their anniversary month, or other seasonal periods.
These rewards can take the form of temporary increases in existing reward rates (e.g., higher APY on staking) or bonus tokens.
6. Learn to Earn
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Yes, you read that right. Many crypto platforms pay you small amounts of crypto just for learning about different blockchain projects and cryptocurrencies. Common examples include Coinbase Earn, Binance Academy, and CoinMarketCap Earn.
Why the reward is usually minimal, Learn to Earn programs are a great way to discover new projects and accumulate tiny bits of various assets.
7. Play-to-Earn (P2E) Games
Play-to-Earn games integrate blockchain technology, allowing players to potentially earn cryptocurrency or Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) with real-world value through gameplay.
Depending on the game (e.g., Axie Infinity, The Sandbox), you might earn rewards by battling other players, completing quests, breeding digital creatures, owning virtual land, or crafting items. These rewards can often be traded on marketplaces for other cryptocurrencies.
8. Browse and Earn
This is a simple one. Some browsers, like Brave browser, use a different advertising model that allows users to opt in to view privacy-respecting ads and get rewarded for their attention.
Take the Brave browser, for example. Once it is installed on your device, you can go into settings and enable Brave Rewards. Ads will occasionally appear as unobtrusive notifications. You don’t even need to click them; just receiving the notification counts.
You earn Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), Brave’s native cryptocurrency. You can withdraw BAT, hold it, or use it to tip verified content creators online.
9. Crypto Cashback program
If you’re spending money anyway, why not get some crypto back? Some companies offer crypto cards that reward you with cryptocurrency cashback on your everyday purchases.
For example, you can earn up to 8% cashback with Crypto.com’s Visa credit card. Binance, Coinbase, and Nexo also get cashbacks on purchases with their crypto cards.
10. Mining
Provided you’re not in a country like China or Algeria where mining is banned, crypto mining is another way to earn crypto rewards.
Mining is the original way cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were created and transactions were verified. It involves using powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems. Mining can either be via PoW mining, requiring specialized hardware, or cloud mining. It can also be individually or together with others in a mining pool.
Successful miners will receive newly minted assets and transaction fees from the block they validate.
11. Yield Farming
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Yield farming involves strategically moving your crypto assets around various DeFi protocols to maximize returns.
Yield farmers constantly hunt for the best Annual Percentage Yields (APYs). This might involve depositing assets into a liquidity pool, staking the resulting LP tokens in another protocol for bonus rewards, using leverage (borrowing against collateral) to amplify returns, and frequently moving funds as opportunities shift.
While the risk is high, the rewards can also be huge and could come as a combination of trading fees, platform native tokens, stablecoins, etc.
12. Referral Programs
Many crypto exchanges, wallets, and platforms want more users, and they’re willing to reward you for bringing them in.
For example, UPay’s affiliate program allows people to earn extra income by inviting others to use its crypto card.
13. Governance Participation
Some decentralized protocols encourage token holders to participate actively in shaping the project’s future by voting on governance proposals. Sometimes, there are crypto rewards for doing so.
While the rewards vary from project to project, they typically fall between a direct token reward or eligibility for future rewards, or airdrops by the project.
14. Microtasks & Freelancing
Instead of investing crypto to earn rewards, you can earn crypto directly by completing small online jobs or offering freelance services.
Platforms like FreeCash and TimeBucks connect users willing to do small online tasks (like data entry, surveys, and content moderation) with those willing to pay in crypto.
Alternatively, as a freelancer, you can use specific crypto-focused freelance platforms or simply arrange to be paid in crypto by your clients.
15. Crypto Bug Bounties
Many crypto and blockchain platforms also offer significant rewards to developers and security researchers who discover and responsibly disclose security vulnerabilities in their code (especially smart contracts).
This kind of reward is only useful for those who have deep technical skills and can analyze code for potential exploits. If you find a bug, you must follow the project’s specific bug bounty program rules for reporting it privately.
Crypto bug bounties can be quite substantial, depending on the severity of the discovered vulnerability.
How to Secure Your Earned Rewards
Earning crypto rewards feels great, but that feeling disappears fast if you lose them to a hack, scam, or silly mistake. Unfortunately, the crypto ecosystem attracts bad actors, so protecting your digital assets is as important as earning them.
So what can you do?
- Choose the Right Wallet: Prioritize non-custodial wallets where you control the keys over exchange wallets for significant funds.
- Guard Your Seed Phrase: Never share your word recovery phrase with anyone, ever. Store it securely offline in multiple safe places.
- Use Strong Passwords & 2FA: Create unique, complex passwords for every platform. Always enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), preferably using an authenticator app.
- Do Your Own Research (DYOR): Thoroughly investigate any project, platform, or protocol before depositing funds. Understand the team, check for audits, and pay attention to the specific cryptocurrency risks involved.
- Stay Alert for Scams: Be highly suspicious of unsolicited DMs, emails, fake giveaways, or support staff asking for keys or your assets. Never send crypto to receive crypto, and double-check website URLs.
- Start Small & Diversify Risk: Avoid putting all your crypto into a single high-risk platform or method. If you have to invest for a reward, begin with small amounts you can afford to lose.
Wrapping Up
From the relative safety of learning programs and browser rewards to the high-stakes world of yield farming and mining, there are many opportunities to earn crypto rewards beyond buying and holding assets.
However, with some rewards also come risks. The key is to opt for methods that align with your risk tolerance, technical understanding, and available time. And even after earning the rewards, always prioritize security.
Happy earning!
