14 Ways You Can Earn Crypto For Free (Like Coinbase)

Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm, with values skyrocketing in the past ten years. Unfortunately, buying crypto directly can be very expensive. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to earn crypto without any investment required at all. One of the most famous sites that allows you to earn free crypto is Coinbase, but this is not the only option. 

Read on to find out more about some of the ways you can earn crypto for free. 

What is Coinbase?

Coinbase is an online cryptocurrency trading platform where you can buy, sell, transfer, and store your cryptocurrency in a secure way. There are a number of ways you can earn crypto for free with Coinbase, which is why it is one of the top crypto exchange platforms on the market.

However, Coinbase is not the only decentralized exchange platform that offers free crypto to its users. There are many other ways you can earn crypto for free, and some take mere seconds and very minimal effort. The following is a list of 14 ways you can earn crypto for free like Coinbase.

1. Learn to Earn

Phemex is one of the platforms offering learn-to-earn programs | Phemex

One of the easiest ways to accumulate free crypto is by simply learning about it. Many crypto platforms offer a learn to earn program on their websites. The way these programs work is that they have users gain more knowledge about the basics of cryptocurrency through videos and lectures. Afterwards, they can then test that knowledge by giving them short quizzes to solve. In exchange, they are rewarded with a little cryptocurrency in their wallet.

Popular sites that have learn to earn programs in place are Coinbase Earn, CoinMarketCap, Phemex, Binance, and more. Examples of fiat currencies you can earn through these platforms are DAI, MKR, XML, AMP, SUSHI and more. 

2. Crypto Faucet

Completing easy tasks in exchange for crypto can make it seem like a faucet of reward has opened | Coinmarketcap

Similar to learn-to-earn programs where crypto is rewarded in exchange for a user completing a learning module, crypto faucets award users with crypto tokens for the successful completion of any task. These tasks vary from platform to platform, and can be virtually anything.

Examples of crypto faucet tasks are watching an advertisement, completing surveys, solving captchas, or even browsing the discussion site Reddit. A variety of cryptocurrencies are rewarded for these tasks, including ETH, BNB, and BTC. Some of the most popular crypto faucets are MoonLitecoin, Fire Faucet, and Cointiply.

3. Sign Up Bonus

An example of a poster advertising a signup bonus | Bitkan

There are hundreds of crypto exchange sites where millions of dollars worth of trading happens every day. Naturally, there is a huge amount of competition between these sites, as every platform wants to attract the most number of users.

Sign up bonuses serve as a kind of marketing strategy to pull in customers, and it is a method employed by almost every crypto exchange to garner user traffic.

Once you sign up to that particular exchange, a small amount of free crypto is credited to your brand new account for free. This is one of the fastest ways to accumulate free crypto, as the entire process results in free coins in your possession in minutes. 

Examples of crypto exchange platforms offering sign up bonuses include Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, BlockFi, and Celsius.

4. Play to Earn

Axie Infinity is among the most popular platforms operating on the play to earn model | Niko

Just like how some platforms offer free crypto by learning through watching videos and taking quizzes, you can also earn crypto by playing games. This is a more fun alternative and attracts millions of users daily.

The most popular play-to-earn crypto game is Axie Infinity, which brings in over 2 million users every day. SLP and AXS tokens are earned for just playing the game, and these can be exchanged or sold across other platforms.

Some games have crypto as a built in feature, and you can use your coins to buy things within the game. Other games that let you earn crypto are Splinterlands, Decentraland, Thetan Arenas, DeFi Kingdoms, and more.

5. Earn Crypto Interest

Platforms like CoinRabbit allow you to earn high amounts as interest off your idle money | CoinRabbit

If you already have some crypto assets sitting idle in your wallet, one of the best ways to put them into use is to place them in a savings account and earn interest off it. This interest will be in the form of crypto, essentially giving you crypto for free.

Both centralized and decentralized exchanges offer a certain percentage of interest for just keeping your assets in their wallet or vault. Some of these percentages are higher than any traditional banks providing interest on fiat currency. 

Programs like Binance Savings, CoinRabbit, BlockFi, and Cake DeFi are examples of platforms where you can earn interest on popular cryptocurrencies for free.  

6. Crypto Lending

When you lend your crypto to someone in need, you earn back both the original amount plus extra as interest | Bitcoinist

Peer-to-peer lending is a novel development in the crypto world and can be a way to earn some extra crypto for free. Crypto lending is a type of decentralized finance in which any investor lends their cryptocurrency to interested borrowers. On this transaction, the investor earns interest in the form of cryptocurrency. 

There are many lending platforms where you can lend crypto and earn interest in exchange. However, this is definitely a riskier option than others, as you are lending your hard earned cryptocurrency on the basis of trust to a borrower who may or may not give it back. 

7. Crypto Airdrop

Crypto airdrops are one of the many ways fairness is upheld in the blockchain space | Brickken

A crypto airdrop is just like a free giveaway, but in the form of cryptocurrency. Airdrops are often offered by developers of a new cryptocurrency coin. The creators of that particular cryptocurrency will give away some of it for free in exchange for the completion of small tasks that boost its online presence.

These tasks include following the coin on social media, joining its Discord channel, sharing its launch poster online, etc. Airdrops create anticipation and garner public interest, which is why many developers use it as a marketing strategy before launching a new coin.

Not all airdrops are of any value, however, as most airdrops are of coins that have only recently been launched. Still, it is a good way to earn easy cryptocurrency for free.

8. Crypto Bounties

Oftentimes crypto bounty hunters are able to fix bugs that may otherwise have devastating consequences | Bitcoin.com

As the name suggests, crypto bounties offer rewards of free crypto in exchange for completing a task specific to the interests of the platform. These tasks range in difficulty from very easy to extremely high risk. One of the easiest tasks is taking part in a referral program, where you invite a friend to use a particular exchange. As a result, both you and your friend who accepted the invite receive a free bonus in the form of crypto. 

An example of a crypto bounty that carries a higher risk is bug bounties. In a bug bounty, developers and programmers are assigned with the task of finding bugs or loopholes within the code of a blockchain project. The reward for this is a hefty amount of crypto, with payouts worth thousands of dollars in value. 

Crypto bounties are similar to airdrops where the bounty is announced online near the launch of a new coin. It’s a win-win situation for both the developer and the user, as the latter gets free marketing and the user gets a chance to obtain free crypto.

9. Change Your Browser

Brave Browser builds on some of the foundations of blockchain like privacy and anonymity | Brave

Earning crypto for doing a task that is a part of your daily routine is a dream come true. Brave browser does exactly that, offering free crypto in exchange for using it as your main browser to surf the web. The way this program works is that Brave blocks most typical cookies and ads, which in other browsers collect information in a targeted approach.

Instead, the browser gives users the option to watch an advertisement in exchange for free crypto in the form of the cryptocurrency coin BAT (Basic Attention Token). This is a great alternative browser for those who are tired of ad bombardment and also want to earn some free crypto on the side.

10. Shop to Earn

Online shopping meets crypto | Lolli

What if you could earn crypto by simply shopping at major brands like Walgreens, Samsung, Nike, Adidas, and eBay? Lolli, a browser extension that you can install for free, offers free Bitcoin cashback in exchange for shopping at their partner stores. Depending on the store, you can get upwards of 10% in cashback. In this way, you can earn free cryptocurrency coins for simply purchasing at your favorite brands.

Most methods to earn free crypto give you coins that are relatively new in the market, so they may not be as valuable, However, Lolli offers cashback in the form of Bitcoin, which is the leading cryptocurrency in value.  

11. Crypto Referral Programs

Referral programs help boost a platform’s visibility while simultaneously benefitting potential users | Kucoin

There are hundreds of crypto exchange sites all over the internet, each with more useful features than the last. Naturally, this incites great competition between them over the most traffic and users gained. To attract more users and increase credibility, many crypto exchanges have launched crypto referral programs. 

Crypto referrals are similar to employee referrals in the corporate sector. In employee referrals, existing employees earn an incentive for successful hiring of a referred candidate. With crypto referrals, users who refer a crypto exchange or wallet receive some cryptocurrency in exchange. This can be a flat commission percentage or a monthly cut of the referees’ trading fees for a period of time.

Popular sites with affiliate programs are KuCoin, Coinbase, Koinly, and Trezor.

12. Switch Your Search Engine

Presearch is a decentralized search engine offering rewards in exchange for using the app | Presearch

Launched on the mainnet in 2022, the search engine Presearch is a decentralized alternative to common search engines like Google and Bing. The engine is devoid of any user data collection, as it is run entirely by volunteer nodes in the blockchain network. 

For every search you make on Presearch, it will reward you with 0.25 PST (Presearch Tokens). The maximum you can make is 8 PST a day. This can be a very easy way to earn some free crypto in passing. If you want to earn even more free crypto, volunteer your computer as a node for some extra cash. By May 2022, the platform has over 3.8 million registered users and 64,000 volunteer nodes, and this number keeps growing.

13. Read and Write Blogs

You can publish articles on any topic on Publish0x in exchange for free crypto | Publish0x

The site Publish0x offers visitors of its site free crypto just for reading and writing articles. Over $420,000 dollars have been paid out to users on the site so far, and the signup process is very easy. Within seconds, you can start earning free crypto, making it a great option for avid readers and writers. In addition, the site also awards free crypto to users who share articles on social media with family and friends.

14. Crypto Credit Cards

A crypto credit card is both convenient and useful in terms of money earned through cashbacks | Coindesk

Crypto credit cards are a great way to earn cashback and rewards in exchange for using them to purchase everyday items. Just like normal credit cards give you a percentage of cashback for each transaction, crypto credit cards give its users cashback in the form of crypto.

These rewards are  in the form of various cryptocurrencies, and are a simple way to earn some free crypto. Crypto cashbacks are often a higher percentage than regular card cashbacks, with sites like Crypto.com offering  up to 10% cashback on certain purchases. 

Sites that offer crypto cashback on credit and debit cards include Crypto.com, Coinbase, Wirex, and BlockFi.

Final Thoughts

In today’s age where ideas about the blockchain and digital currency have started to settle themselves into the mainstream, having cryptocurrency as a possession is a must. However, before you commit to any free crypto scheme, make sure you are on the lookout for scams and offers that sound too good to be true.

Go for methods that are well researched and have established some form of credibility online, as there are always offers that are not real. Keeping these tips in mind, you can easily achieve an abundance of free crypto in your wallet in mere seconds. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kamil Anwar


Kamil is a certified MCITP, CCNA (W), CCNA (S) and a former British Computer Society Member with over 9 years of experience Configuring, Deploying and Managing Switches, Firewalls and Domain Controllers also an old-school still active on FreeNode.