Cryptocurrency is the best performing asset of the decade and it’s not even close. In fact, if you had $100 in Bitcoin in 2010, it would be worth a jaw-dropping $23.25 million dollars today – just 14 years later! That’s better than the stock returns of Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook), and Nvidia combined.
When Bitcoin was first released in 2009, it only costs $0.0008 to purchase one Bitcoin. By November 2024, a single Bitcoin reached near an all-time high of $93,000.
But along with those incredible returns, you also had periods of extreme volatility (like the one we’re in now). A lot of investors and traders can’t handle putting a significant amount of their money on the rollercoaster ride.
Well, you’re in luck because it’s possible to get cryptocurrencies completely free. So if you want to join the HODL bandwagon without risking a lot of your own money, this article is for you. Here’s The Money Ninja’s guide to 9 best ways to get free cryptocurrency without mining.
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Economics of Mining Crypto
Before someone asks why I’m not including mining as a way to earn free crypto, I’ll say it right at the beginning.
It’s too expensive for the average person. The cost of specialized computers, high-end graphic cards, and electricity required makes it very difficult to mine cryptocurrency profitably.
During the early years of the cryptocurrency market, it was possible to mine from your home computer and earn a lot of crypto. As prices skyrocketed, more and more miners began competing for crypto, and more and more transactions began occurring all over the world.
Now, it would take years for a home computer to validate just one block of transactions. This has caused many miners to rely on expensive hardware as well as mining software through cloud-based applications.
How To Get Free Crypto Without Mining
Now that I’ve convinced you that mining is not the best option, here are several easy ways to get free cryptocurrency.
You only need your computer or smart phone – no fancy equipment is necessary.
Here are the top 10 ways to get free cryptocurrency without mining.
Ninja Note: I update this post on a regular basis as opportunities come up and other ones go away. Bookmark this page and check back often.
1. Get Crypto Signup Bonuses
The easiest and quickest way to get free cryptocurrency is to take advantage of sign-up offers from cryptocurrency platforms. Similar to free stock offers, you’ll get free crypto for simply opening an account and making a deposit or trading a certain dollar amount within a specific period of time.
I’ve compiled the best free crypto promotions in the table below. You can also find details in this list of the best crypto bonuses.
The two easiest sign-up bonuses currently are Gemini’s $15 crypto bonus for a $100 trade and iTrustCapital $100 welcome bonus for trading the same amount.
| Crypto Platform | Promotion | Link |
|---|---|---|
 | $15 BTC Bonus | Link |
 | Up to $200 BTC Bonus | Link |
 | $50 BTC Bonus | Link |
 | $100 Cash Bonus | Link |
 | $50 CRO Bonus | Link |
 | $10 Bonus | Link |
 | Up to $5,000 Bonus | Link |
 | $15 BTC | Link |
 | $25 BTC Bonus | Link |
 | Up to $6,600 | Link |
 | $35 BTC Bonus | Link |
 | N/A | Link |
 | N/A | Link |
2. Watch Videos on Coinbase Earn
Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world that allows you to buy, sell, use, and accept cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
It launched a program called Coinbase Earn in which users can earn free cryptocurrencies just by watching videos and completing a short quiz to learn about new coins and tokens.
There are $167 in Coinbase Earn offers I keep updated in this post. Once you join Coinbase (and earn $50 in free Bitcoin when you make your first trade), you can start watching videos to get free crypto.
3. Apply for Gemini Credit Card
Gemini recently launched the Gemini Credit Card that lets you earn rewards in Bitcoin, Ether, or 60+ other cryptos currently available on Gemini.
It’s the only credit card that deposits your crypto rewards immediately. That means the crypto you earn lands in your Gemini account the instant you swipe, not a month later.
The earning rates are very competitive compared to other credit cards in the market. You will earn:
- 4% back on gas at the pump and EV charging
- 3% back on dining
- 2% back on groceries
- 1% back on everything else
There is no annual fee for this card, making it ideal for who want to earn free crypto for their everyday spending.
4. Get Free Stock and Exchange for Free Crypto
Another strategy you can use to get free crypto is to sign up for stock trading apps that give you free shares of stock.
You can then convert them to free cryptocurrency since many of these stock brokerages also lets users purchase crypto on their platforms.
- Get the free stock bonus.
- Sell the free stock.
- Use the cash proceedsto purchase cryptocurrency.
Here are all the stock companies that are giving away free stock.
| Brokerage | Promotion | Link |
|---|---|---|
 | 40 Free Stocks | Link |
 | 15 Free Stocks | Link |
 | 1 Free Stock ($25) | Link |
 | $20 Bonus | Link |
| $150 Cash Bonus | Link |
 | $75 Bonus | Link |
 | $60 Bonus | Link |
 | 1 Free Stock (Up To $200) | Link |
 | $5,000 Bonus | Link |
 | $20 Cash Bonus | Link |
5. Earn Crypto with the Brave Browser
The Brave Browser is a fast, private, and secure web browser for PC, Mac, and Android/iOS mobile devices that awards you the Basic Attention Token (BAT) cryptocurrency for using it to browse the internet.
Brave usually blocks all ads from displaying when you surf the internet, but you can opt in to the Brave Rewards program when you first download the app.
If you decide to participate in Brave Rewards, you’ll be shown high-quality ads. In exchange for this, Brave will give you BAT, which you can transfer to an exchange like Gemini and earn 1.75% interest on it (or sell it if you wish).
6. Read Articles on Publish0x
Publish0X is a cryptocurrency publishing platform that pays both writers and readers a portion of the ad revenue the site generates.
It used to pay you with the Basic Attention Token (BAT) like the Brave Browser does, but recently switched to FARM tokens.
Here’s how it works:
- Join Publish0X with this link.
- Read cryptocurrency articles.
- Decide how much of your rewards you want to keep for yourself and how much you want to give to the author of the post at the end of each article.
- Receive cryptocurrency reward deposited immediately into your account.
FARM tokens are legit and they’re listed on major exchanges like Coinbase, which means you can buy and sell them easily.
The reason I say that is because other sites may give you crypto rewards, but if the cryptocurrency they’re awarding you with can’t be sold, then there’s no point in earning them.
This site is not a scam. However, you won’t earn much by reading PublishOX. It’s another option if you’re interested in reading about cryptocurrency anyway so it’s entirely up to you whether it’s worth it or not.
7. Stake Your Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency staking is a booming new investment option that has taken the crypto world by storm. But what exactly is crypto staking?
Staking is the process of holding funds to support the operations of a blockchain network through a reward-driven process. The more people who stake their crypto wallets, the more secure the network is.
In short, staking simply stands for holding a cryptocurrency in a wallet for a fixed period, then earning rewards on it. The reward earned from staking varies depending on the length of time you hold it.
Proof of Stake (POS) protocols allow miners to be randomly selected from a pool by holders of the digital currency in order to validate transactions. This helps prevent bad players from manipulating the blockchain. In return, the chosen miners get rewarded for helping out.
That’s the laymen’s version of crypto staking as the entire process behind the scenes is much more complicated than how I explained.
I stake some of my cryptocurrency to earn additional returns. For example, I stake CRO on Crypto.com.
Crypto.com Coin (CRO) is the native token of Crypto.com. Depending on how much CRO you stake on the Crypto.com exchange, you get the following benefits:
- CRO rebate when you pay trading fees with CRO
- 10% APR interest paid daily
- Access to The Syndicate (fundraising platform for the most promising crypto projects)
- Referral Program bonus (up to $2,000 per referred friend)
- Pay Benefits (get a percentage back in CRO when you use Pay Checkout)
| CRO Staked | Maker Discount Rate | Taker Rate | Interest APR |
| ≥ 0 | 0% | 0.10% | 0% |
| ≥ 1,000 | 0% | 0.10% | 0% |
| ≥ 5,000 | 10% | -0.005% | 10% |
| ≥ 10,000 | 20% | -0.010% | 10% |
| ≥ 50,000 | 40% | -0.020% | 10% |
| ≥ 100,000 | 60% | -0.040% | 10% |
| ≥ 200,000 | 70% | -0.060% | 10% |
| ≥ 1,000,000 | 80% | -0.080% | 10% |
| ≥ 5,000,000 | 90% | -0.090% | 10% |
| ≥ 50,000,000 | 100% | -0.100% | 10% |
At the time of this writing, CRO is trading for $0.6129 per coin, so it’s unrealistic for someone to achieve the top tiers unless you’re super rich like Elon Musk. But the other tiers aren’t so hard to get and gives you several nice benefits.
Interested? Start staking with a $25 bonus when you join Crypto.com using the link below.
8. Participate in Crypto Airdrops
An airdrop is a marketing promotion that give people coins or tokens in order to promote a new cryptocurrency.
Small amounts of this new virtual currency are sent to wallet addresses of active members of the community for free or in return for a small service, like retweeting a post from the company issuing the cryptocurrency.
Biggest Airdrop Success
The biggest crypto airdrop success in history was the one done by Decred in 2016.
The company behind the then new digital currency Decred airdropped 258,000 DCR – which at the time had a total value of around $500,000 (roughly $2 per DCR coin).
Today, one DCR coin is worth $100. That makes the value of the airdrop a crazy $25.8 million!
Biggest Airdrop Failure
On the other end, the biggest airdrop flop is auroracoin, one of the oldest airdrops that happened back in 2014.
At the time, the creators of auroracoin announced that AUR would be a cryptocurrency created for citizens of Iceland. Each Icelandic resident with a permanent resident ID were given 31.8 AUR just for registering on a website.
Those 31.8 AUR tokens were worth $385 when they launched, but soon the project along with its AUR token failed. Residents sold their tokens immediately once they received them and today, one AUR token is worth a measly 17¢.
Cryptocurrency Airdrops Today
While cryptocurrency drops as successful as Decred is less common than they once were, there have been a number of great airdrops recently – Stellar Lumens (XLM) and the Spark token (XRP) to name a couple. Another good example of a profitable airdrop was the BadgerDAO token (BADGER), which was intended to support community members and did so successfully.
Ninja Note: Beware of airdrop scams. It’s is possible for crypto airdrops to be unfulfilled. Shady companies try to get users to join telegram groups and share their new digital currency project on social media, then close the telegram group with the airdrop never arriving. Additionally, airdrops can require hidden fees that add up to be a higher amount than the worth of the airdrop. It’s important to do your own due diligence.
9. Refer Friends with Cryptocurrency Referral Programs
Almost all of the cryptocurrency platforms have a referral program that give you and your friends free cryptocurrency when they sign up using your referral link.
If you have friends and family that are interested in free crypto, then this is the ultimate win-win situation.
Once you join a crypto exchange, it will provide you with a personal referral link. Simply share that unique URL link with your friends and family and both you and the person you refer will earn a reward once they open an account and complete the deposit or trade requirement.
| Crypto Platform | Promotion | Link |
|---|---|---|
| $15 BTC Bonus | Link |
| Up to $200 BTC Bonus | Link |
| $50 BTC Bonus | Link |
| $100 Cash Bonus | Link |
| $50 CRO Bonus | Link |
| $10 Bonus | Link |
| Up to $5,000 Bonus | Link |
| $15 BTC | Link |
| $25 BTC Bonus | Link |
| Up to $6,600 | Link |
| $35 BTC Bonus | Link |
| N/A | Link |
| N/A | Link |
The Bottom Line
At The Money Ninja, I’m all about showing readers how to make more money. Maximizing your finances is my motto and I’ve read the many emails you sent us on how cryptocurrency has made a positive impact on your personal finances.
That said, you should never invest with money that you can’t risk losing, especially with something as volatile as crypto. Equally important is not to overexpose yourself in any single asset class. Personally, my limit for digital assets is 5% of my investable cash.
Regardless if you’re a hardcore believer in cryptocurrency or just a casual investor, getting free cryptocurrency is a good way to ride the digital currency rocket without risking a lot of your own money.
You don’t need to invest in a bunch of expensive computer hardware and mining software to dip your toes into this cryptocurrency market. With so many free ways that I’ve just showed you, now is a great time to jump in.
When I first invested in crypto (bought Bitcoin for $250 each), I never imagined the pace of its meteoric rise. At this point, I have a decent amount of my net worth in various digital assets, but these free ways of getting cryptocurrency allows me to add to my investments with no out-of-pocket costs.
Thank you so much for the effort you put forth in researching all these. I will use your link to start my journey.
You’re welcome! Let me know if you have any questions as you go through them.
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hello,, my name is ROY i would like to kwon how to invest in this?? but i dont any funds to put into it.. so i am brand new at this.. so i kwon nothing about this.. ok