Donnerstag, 3. Dezember 2015

Exclusive Interview with the Media Division Manager of 1Broker

Recently, bitcoin has been drawing the attention of many companies around the world including Forex and CFD Brokers. The rise of bitcoin trading has created a multi-billion dollar industry that allows cryptocurrency enthusiasts to buy or sell digital currencies across various exchange platforms.

Now, several brokers are introducing bitcoin as part of their trading services. Forex is  the market with the biggest volume and liquidity all over the world. Forex markets are said to witness a daily volume of trillions of USD. For Bitcoin, it presents a whole new market with many trading opportunities.

1Broker is a platform that allows Bitcoin users to invest in CFDs with their bitcoin. The platform allows Bitcoin users to participate in real-world markets directly by using their Bitcoins. 1Broker currently allows traders to invest on 44 selected commodities, stock, indices and Forex pairs. 1Broker has taken the digital currency approach to a whole new level and only allows deposits and withdrawals to be made via Bitcoin.

The underlying contracts that users trade on 1Broker are called CFDs. This type of derivative allows 1Broker to peg its markets directly to the underlying markets\assets with top transparency and maximum simplicity for any type of trader.

To know more about 1Broker and the Forex-Crypto Market industry, NewsBTC was able to reach out to the company’s Media Division Manager and ask him some questions:

NewsBTC – Can you tell us a bit about the company, and its goals and history?

1Broker – 1Broker was launched in late 2012 after around 12 months of planning and development. From the beginning, our main focus was to allow Bitcoin holders to participate in global markets. Back then, we only offered trading on a few markets and had an extremely limited platform, but over the past few years we have continually improved our software and constantly added new features. Currently, there is still a lot of room for improvement and our focus for development is on a new, and innovative front-end, which is scheduled to be released in early 2016. Our long-term goal is to compete with our “traditional” competitors, which usually do not accept Bitcoin (yet).

NewsBTC – Can you tell us a bit about the platform and how it works?

1Broker – Before launching our platform we analyzed several business models of how we could implement our ideas. We decided to offer CFDs as our primary product for the several reasons:

  • We could offer high liquidity and fast order executions from the beginning.

  • All fees could be integrated transparently in the spreads.

  • Unlike other products, positions do not expire.

  • Markets are pegged to their underlyings (unlike options for example), which leads to an extremely transparent and straightforward trading experience.

A trade on our platform is basically a contract between us and the trader, where we agree to pay the “difference” specified by the profit/loss formula. In the background, there are a lot of other things going on, but we managed to completely abstract that away from the trader.

NewsBTC – Why did you decide to make bitcoin the only deposit option on your platform?

1Broker – 1Broker was solely created for Bitcoin holders. The main reason was, that there simply were no others platforms offering a similar service. We saw this as an opportunity to gain a first-to-market advantage.

NewsBTC – I see you have integrated Crypto Markets on the platform. For now, you only have the BTC/USD pair. Will you be integrating more crypto pairs shortly?

1Broker – Offering CFDs on illiquid and volatile markets is extremely difficult, and for that reason we currently have no plans to add other crypto pairs in the near future.

NewsBTC – What is the source for your charts and price indicators?



1Broker – It depends on the market. For BTC/USD, we use a non-volume-weighted average of Bitstamp, itBit and Coinbase. For our forex markets, we use several data streams redundantly. For more detailed information, people can contact us.

NewsBTC – How do you see the influence of cryptocurrency on the Forex Broker industry?

1Broker – It heavily depends on how the cryptocurrencies will develop, and the adoption rates to follow. Currently, it is still an extremely small market and mainly used by tech-savvy enthusiasts. However, in the last year we noticed a significant increase of traders who live in underdeveloped countries and have no access to a bank accounts or services, so they often use cryptocurrencies to circumvent this problem.

NewsBTC – What’s your expectations for the crypto market?

1Broker – I expect that the cryptocurrency markets will continue to see accelerated growth both in volume and transaction rates. However, I doubt that they will replace traditional currencies or banking systems in the foreseeable future. The influence and power of existing governments and institutions is simply too high, and they wouldn’t stand by while they were replaced. Which brings me to next point – If leading governments formally ban digital currencies, it could really have a negative impact. Fortunately, many countries that are beginning to regulate cryptocurrencies are taking an open-minded, and exploratory approach, which is more or less a good sign.

NewsBTC – What’s your opinion on the current situation of bitcoin and digital currencies?



1Broker – Bitcoin is slowly leaving its early stages of development and many powerful organisations and people are trying to influence the development of the protocol. (i.e. block size debate) It’s impossible to accurately predict what the long-term future will look like. There are so many possibilities that could unfold: From a new digital currency replacing Bitcoin, to consensus-based updates of the current rules.
However, the ideas and technology of a distributed ledger and all its potential use cases are certainly here to stay, and in my opinion the proof-of-work based algorithms (which secure the Bitcoin network) are one of the most important inventions in applied computer science.

Images: 1Broker

Source

Dienstag, 1. Dezember 2015

Russia's Finance Ministry Wants to Ban Bitcoin, Not the Blockchain

Though bitcoin regulation remains a divisive topic globally, there's perhaps no country that has kept the international bitcoin community guessing about the digital currency's future more than Russia.

For more than a year, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the nation's economic lawmaking body, has been repeatedly and staunchly against allowing its use as an alternative to government-issued money. Just last month, for example, deputy finance minister Alexey Moiseev told CoinDesk that the Ministry was working on a draft law that would seek to punish those converting cryptocurrencies into the ruble with up to four years in prison.

Outside of these statements, however, the agency's opinion on bitcoin as a financial technology has been less clear.

Speaking to CoinDesk, Moiseev said that his office was dealing with bitcoin and its underlying technology in different ways:

"We feel that blockchain technology is very important in the development of various Internet-based services."

Nonetheless, Moiseev remained vocal about the dangers of bitcoin as a means for facilitating payments, though his comments displayed a less aggressive stance than has been outwardly projected by his agency.

"We appreciate the potential relevance of blockchain technology for the development of e-commerce and therefore we feel that it should be allowed and developed, but bitcoin themselves, in particular, the implementation of the bitcoin transactions into the real economy, in the real banking system can be very dangerous," he concluded.

Moiseev also elaborated on the reasons the Ministry of Finance believes new rules are necessary, citing the digital currency's association with money laundering and terrorism financing. But while Russia may be looking to potentially criminalise bitcoin-to-fiat conversions, Moiseev said that he did not perceive bitcoin to be a threat to Russia's national currency.

Bitcoin and terrorism

Since its emergence government regulators have struggled to determine how best to regulate digital currencies, and whether new laws need to be applied to businesses using the technology.

New York, for example, introduced unique state law governing its use, but despite its early movement on this issue, other US states have largely sought to update or apply past statutes to cover the technology.

Of the government organizations that have issued comments on digital currency, many are concerned about that the payment method is being used by cybercriminals, the evidence of which has encouraged fears bitcoin could be leveraged by terrorists, a view that has been given new attention in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris.

The topic of terrorism is clearly on Moiseev's mind as well, as the deputy finance minister expressed concerns about bitcoin potentially making the country's financial system more vulnerable to exploitation:

"We are very concerned about the potential developments there as we have built serious system of protection against money laundering and financing terrorism using conventional banking system. We are quite afraid of opening this window up by allowing a free convertibility of bitcoins into rubles and back."

He then went one step further, noting that Russia was monitoring how bitcoin was being regulated by its contemporaries in both Europe and elsewhere.

"We are looking at how bitcoins are being regulated, how they are being protected from potential abuse by money launderers and terrorists," he added.

Crypto in Russia

Despite adding clarity to the conversation, Moissev's comments don't successfully foretell how the technology will be regulated in Russia.

Russia's central bank has indicated it is against measures that would outlaw its use, and the organization's view was supported by President Vladimir Putin when he discussed digital currencies for the first time in July this year.

At the time, Putin backed the Bank of Russia's advocacy for the technology but also implied that bitcoin is "backed by nothing", and thus might require special oversight.

Although bitcoin's future remains uncertain in Russia, it is perhaps safe to say that crypto enthusiasts can remain at ease at least for now. The draft law – which would criminalise bitcoin conversions – pursued by the Ministry of Finance is being reviewed by the Cabinet, a process which is expected to take a few months, and will then have to be submitted to the country's Parliament for final approval.

For a more detailed look at bitcoin's history in Russia check out our interactive timeline.

Russia flag image via Shutterstock

Source

Sonntag, 29. November 2015

A Big List of the Best Bitcoin Business Ideas & Opportunities

The use of digital currencies like Bitcoin is continuing to grow around the world, whilst at the same time new applications for the blockchain technology which underpins it are popping up constantly. This creates a huge range of opportunities for entrepreneurs to capitalize on. Establishing your business within a young and growing industry like this may be seen as risky by some, but it also offers the potential for phenomenal growth rates. Personally, I would also suggest that it is an exciting and rewarding business to get into, giving you the chance to be part of something big while helping to take the power bank from the banks and return it to the people.

If you are an entrepreneur (or would like to be one) then I have some good news for you: profitable Bitcoin business ideas are not hard to come by. That doesn’t mean that it will be easy for you to make money, or that you are guaranteed success. But that first step of finding interesting opportunities that are worthy of consideration should not be a barrier to anybody willing to invest their time and / or money into digital currency.

In this article you will find a selection of the best ‘off-the-shelf’ bitcoin business opportunities that you could set up right now, as well as a few more general ideas to help spark the imagination and inspire those among you who prefer to forge your own independent business path.

Becoming a Bitcoin Broker

Perhaps one of the most obvious as well as one of the most popular ways to start a business in this industry is to set yourself up as a broker, buying and selling coins to other users.

Unlike other areas of finance, digital currency users often have a preference for using peer-to-peer services rather than large companies. This preference extends to exchanges, meaning that it is very easy for a small trader to set themselves up as a broker in their local area or over the internet. In fact, one of the world’s most popular services for buying and selling BTC is LocalBitcoins, which is entirely based around peer-to-peer transactions and hosts thousands of small traders earning a living as brokers.

As a broker you earn your profit from the ‘spread’ – the difference between bid and ask prices. This varies according to market conditions and the payment method you are using, but you can get a rough idea simply by visiting the buy and sell pages on the site for your local area.

BTMs: Operating a Bitcoin ATM

If you have enough capital behind you then a more easily scalable, and potentially more profitable way to set up a business buying and selling coins, is by operating specialist ‘Automatic Teller Machines’ (ATMs) sometimes known as ‘Bitcoin Teller Machines’ (BTM).

Fees charged by BTMs seem to start around the range of 5-10% per transaction, and in some cases are a lot higher. Operators who manage to get their machines into the best locations often report ROI for their initial capital in less than a year. These machines do not take up a lot of space, so renting locations doesn’t need to cost the earth. But with the cost of the machine itself, and the requirement to stock it with notes, the initial outlay can be quite high.

There are a wide range of machines available to buy, and they usually allow you to set your own fees to the level you want. Some machines will also allow you to connect to a third-party exchange through an API in order to manage your currency risk by keeping your reserves of both BTC and your local fiat at a constant level. Most machines will incorporate some form of KYC requirements, but it is important for operators to keep abreast of local regulatory requirements and ensure that their machines comply with the law.

If you are already the owner of a retail location then running a BTM may be a particularly attractive proposition, and some systems have been designed with dual-functionality for this reason. Several major BTM manufacturers have included point of sale (POS) systems into their machine, whilst at the same time POS terminal providers such as Coinkite offer exchange features that enable cashiers to buy or sell coins from the till.

Here is a list of some of the most popular options:

  • Romit: Kiosks and ATMs with point of sale app and integrated remittance options.
  • BitAccess: Fully featuresdATM machines with note recycling, customizable compliance options and remote management.
  • GeneralBytes: Offers a choice of full kiosk and combined POS system.
  • Skyhook: Powered by open source software, this machine supports a wide range of currencies.
  • Lamassu: Offers a range of 3 different machines and is the market leader at the time of writing this article.
  • GenesisCoin: Includes the option to brand the product through their white label system, and had all the features you would expect.

There is even a market out there for second hand BTM machines. You can compare products and find cheap second hand deals at CoinATMRadar.

Bitcoin Vending Machine Businesses

There are many similarities between running a network of teller machines and running a vending machine business. Entrepreneurial salespeople with a strong knowledge of their local area can do well by placing these machines in strategic locations.

One of the big limitations of vending machines is that many people simply don’t carry a lot of change around with them, and may not have the coins needed to make a purchase. As the use of cash continues to decline this is likely to present an ever-expanding opportunity to replace legacy systems with new machines capable of accepting alternative payment methods.

Already there are machines available to purchase which accept both credit / debit cards and Bitcoin. For example, Aeguana sells a top-spec system with digital display, which they claim has driven an average 400% increase in sales on a like-for-like basis compared to traditional coin operated machines during trials in the UK.

If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty (or hiring an engineer) you can also retrofit pretty much any existing vending machine to accept BTC payments using something like the BitSwitch, or alternatively Kryptomech which runs its own installation service.

White Label Business Opportunities

This is what it often feels like to run a business.

This is what it often feels like to run a business.

A white label business is when another company allows you to take their product or service, rebrand it under your own name, and present it to the public as an independent business. Although the core product is not unique, these services often allow for a relatively high degree of customization.

White Label Exchanges

If you have ever thought of running your own cryptocurrency exchange website, then there are some significant advantages to going through the white label route.

The first is that high quality exchange software capable of reliably matching and executing orders at high speeds is a complex and expensive thing to develop yourself. Setting up a white label exchange is a low cost way to get into this business, but should still allow you to select which coins and currencies you want to trade, set your own fees, and customize the user-interface to suit your brand.

A second major advantage is that these services usually allow you to share liquidity with other exchanges using the same network. Building enough liquidity on a new exchange to make it an attractive choice for users can be very difficult, or very expensive and risky if you provide the liquidity yourself.

Here is a list of the top white label bitcoin exchange providers:

White Label Casinos

Gambling has always been one of those areas in which the advantages of digital currency are most apparent. One of the reasons for this is because many countries do not classify it as being real money, which means that strict laws and regulations controlling online gambling may not apply to casinos which use BTC exclusively.

If you fancy running your own casino, poker or betting site then there are many white label opportunities for you to take advantage of. These can range from a complete ‘turnkey’ website which just requires you to add your own branding (and make sure that you are complying with local laws) to individual games that you can add to your own site.

Here are three of the top providers of this service:

  1. CoinGaming
  2. SoftSwiss
  3. BetcoinGaming

Other White Label Services

I’m sure that there are many other white label services out there, offering services other than casinos and exchanges. This is a fast past industry, so it is well worth doing your own search if you think this is something you may like to do. But for now I will leave you with just one other service that you may like to take a look at: E-Coin offers entrepreneurs the chance to white label their bitcoin debit card service, and includes the ability to access their service through an API: https://devportal.e-coin.io/

Bitcoin Mining

Mining is a very competitive business today, but that doesn’t mean that it is impossible for new start-ups to succeed. The key to being able to make a profit from mining is that you need access to low-cost electricity. Setting up in an area with a cold climate may also help to reduce equipment cooling costs. This is, however, a risky business that is dependent on factors which are difficult to forecast (such as the price of BTC) and which will probably require a high capital outlay for equipment, so make sure you really know what you are getting into before setting up shop as a miner.

Bitcoin Franchise Opportunities

Choosing the franchise route means that not only are you provided with a product / service to sell, but you also get access to a proven strategy and business plan, and the rights to use an established brand that may already have name recognition and may run its own advertising campaigns that you can benefit from.

This can be seen as one step up from a white label in terms of the help and support you get from the company behind the product, but you do have to pay for this as there is usually a fee which must be paid to purchase the franchise. If you are considering taking this route then I would advise you to do a little research to find the latest franchise offerings yourself, but to whet your appetite and perhaps save some of you the time and effort, here are three of the most interesting franchises that I have been able to find:

  1. Coin Telegraph – One of the most well known names in digital currency news, Coin Telegraph is offering foreign language franchises in many countries around the world. A similar model is being followed by another news site called NewsBTC.
  2. Coingaia – A Bitcoin exchange which is using a franchise model instead of the white label route for anybody looking to start their own exchange.
  3. MegaBigPower – If you have been thinking about setting up your own mining business but don’t have the full capital outlay required then this is worth looking into. You provide a premises and electricity, and they will provide ASIC mining machines and technical support to help you run them.

Retail Businesses

You can buy most things with Bitcoin today, but there are still opportunities available for new retail businesses which accept digital currency payments to make a name for themselves.

The low transaction costs and freedom from chargebacks makes BTC payments an attractive proposition for retailers, and if you can pass on some of those savings to your customers in the form of discounts you have a great chance to attract new business.

Perhaps the easiest way to set up a new retail business and take payment in BTC is using an internet shop builder service like Shopify.

Reseller & Dropship Opportunities

If you are already involved in retail, or if this is a sector you are thinking about going into, you may also like to consider reselling Bitcoin related products.

For example, Prypto offers a way for retailers to sell Bitcoin in the form of scratch cards or vouchers. This is perfect for adding to the counter of a local newsagent of grocery store, but can also be used by online businesses.

There are also many digital products unrelated to digital currency which have reseller programs. This is a great way to get into retail without a huge expenditure on buying stock, and making a product available to purchase for BTC may win you some business. You can even use a similar method to start selling physical products through ‘dropshipping’, which involves the retailer taking payment for a product from the customer, and then immediately ordering it from their dropship wholesaler, who ships the product direct to the customer.

Monetizing Trust: Escrow Agents & Oracles

If you have built up a name for yourself as somebody that can be trusted (or if your business has), then you may like to consider monetizing this trust by setting yourself up as an escrow agent or oracle.

The role of an escrow agent is the arbitrate over disputes. This may involve online purchases, freelance contracts, or other business and trade arrangements. The process is simple: payment is made to a bitcoin address which requires any 2 signatures out of the buyer, the seller and the escrow agent in order to send a transaction. If there is no problem then the buyer and seller sign and payment is made, but if there is a problem then the escrow agent must choose whether to sign the payment or the refund. You can create a profile on websites like Bitrated to promote your services as an escrow agent.

Another business which requires a certain degree of trust from your customers is the role of the oracle. Oracles publish information over the blockchain which can be used for betting, for financial derivatives, or for smart contracts. Take a look at our article on how to become a bitcoin oracle for more information about this.

Consultancy Businesses

If you are reading this article then you probably know more about bitcoin than 99% of other people, at the very least. So why not put that knowledge to good use by helping other businesses?

Both Bitcoin itself and the blockchain technology which underpins it offer a wealth of opportunities, not only for setting up a new business but also within established businesses. Unfortunately most companies just don’t know how to take advantage of them. This doesn’t just stop at accepting Bitcoin payments, it could involve using the blockchain for low cost notary services, as an asset registry, smart contracts and a lot more besides.

Although anybody looking to set themselves up as a consultant must be careful not to overstate their expertise – most general consultancies have teams of people with different backgrounds including programming, law and other areas – there are still profitable niches that anybody with a bit of experience and a willingness to research could take advantage of. For example, approaching small and medium sized retailers in your area and offering to guide them through the various point of sale options, or offering to conduct a presentation on blockchain notary services to a local law firm as a general introduction to what it can offer.

Flipping Websites, Apps & Businesses

Business flipping is when you buy a business, increase its profitability (or turn it around entirely if its making a loss), and then sell it on in a relatively short period of time. The term is more commonly used for online businesses in the form of website or app flipping, but can also be applied to bricks & mortar businesses.

There are many different websites and apps which could benefit from integrating digital currency into what they offer. It is also possible to buy websites and apps for much less than most other businesses, and to ‘flip’ them within a fairly short period of time. Integrating digital currency for in-app purchases or for user-rewards schemes, or simply converting stores to accept BTC payments, may be worth considering as ways to add value to an established business.

It is not beyond the imagination to think that some offline businesses may present similar opportunities for an entrepreneur to add value in a short space of time by introducing the use of blockchain technology.

Bitcoin Websites & Faucets

At the risk of creating more competition for ourselves, another possibility is to create a bitcoin related website. When it comes to monetizing your site, there are many advertising networks and affiliate programs which pay out in bitcoin.

One of the most popular categories of website in this area is the faucet – a website which pays out a small amount of bitcoin to new users for testing or just for fun. Check out our article about how to make your own faucet for more information about this.

You may also like to take a look at our article on how to earn bitcoin by blogging.

The Wonderful World of Altcoins

If you are willing to go further out into the wild west of financial technology there are many more opportunities to be had in the wonderful world of altcoins. For example you may consider setting up a Ripple gateway, converting popular apps into decentralized apps on 2.0 networks like Ethereum, making your own altcoin, and probably a thousand and one other things besides!

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Earn Bitcoins in 8 different ways

Earn Bitcoins in 8 different ways

Contents of Earn Bitcoins

  1. Earn Bitcoins by accepting them as a means of payment 🏬
  2. Earn free Bitcoins by completing tasks on websites ✔
  3. Earn Bitcoins from interest payments %
  4. Earn Bitcoins from mining 💎
  5. Earn Bitcoins by getting tipped 👏
  6. Earn Bitcoins through trading 📈
  7. Earn Bitcoins as a regular income 👨
  8. Earn Bitcoins from gambling - not suitable for everyone 🎰

Post your comments

This website shows you how to earn Bitcoins. If you want to buy Bitcoins go this way.

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Win over $1,000 in bit4coin's Bitcoin Photo Contest! Take and submit your best Bitcoin photos! Earn from $250 to over $1,000 in Bitcoin for your artwork. In addition, visitors can tip Bitcoins for your photos, independent of rewards! The contest just started, check it out now!

1. Earn Bitcoins by accepting them as a means of payment 🏬

In my opinion, the best and easiest way to earn Bitcoins is to accept them as a means of payment. If you have a small business, the integration is done quickly and easily. No matter if you have a brick and mortar shop or an online business, no matter if you sell goods or services. You just have to complete the following three steps:

  1. Get a free online Bitcoin wallet from Coinbase. If you're not sure what a Bitcoin wallet is, check out my What is Bitcoin section. There are also many other providers apart from Coinbase. When you sign up with LocalBitcoins you will also get a free bitcoin wallet with a broad range of functions. Find out which works best for you. And remember, no wallet is absolutely safe, so be careful with your money. Especially make sure you keep your Bitcoins stored safely in at least 2 or 3 different places.

  2. bitcoin wallet image
  3. Display a QR-code with your Bitcoin address next to your cash register. There are two options here.
    • When you have your wallet, go to a section that says 'Receive Money' or 'Add funds' or something similar. There will usually be a QR-code that has your Bitcoin address encoded in it. Print out the image with the QR-code and place it next to your cash register. Your customers will typically have a Bitcoin app installed on their smartphone where they can enter the value of the purchase in USD or EUR. Their app calculates the corresponding Bitcoin value. It automatically takes the current exchange rate to get the right amount. On your wallet account you can check the confirmation of your incoming payment.
    • Some wallets offer a 'Receive Money' functionality. When you earn Bitcoins by accepting them as a payment method on a more regular basis it comes in handy when you use a button called 'Create Payment Request'. Here you enter the Bitcoin amount the customer has to pay and it will show the corresponding QR-code automatically. This way the customer doesn't need to enter an amount which makes the payment for them more convenient. For this method you need to calculate the Bitcoin amount from your USD or EUR price before you can enter it for the QR-code to generate.

    • sample bitcoin address qr-code
  4. Display the 'Bitcoin accepted here' logo at the entrance to your shop to show everybody your innovative payment integration. You will find a printable version of the logo plus a free guide under Downloads.

  5. bitcoin accpted here logo small

That's it. It's so easy, start to earn Bitcoins by selling goods and services today! This is just a quick description how to earn Bitcoins by accepting them as a means of payment. These links are also helpful:

There are many other lists and indexes where you can add your shop. I find the two mentioned ones to work best so far. If you have one that you think is really good and complete, contact me. I will be happy to add other links here.

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2. Earn free Bitcoins by completing tasks on websites ✔

There are many websites which offer you to earn free Bitcoins. With most of these sites, the concept is that you visit the site and just for looking at it you get a small amount of Bitcoins. The concept has something in common with watching good old free TV. You watch a lot of ads and inbetween you get something you actually want to see, like a film or music clips.

While this is a legitimate concept, the return on your invested time is very little. So when you earn Bitcoins from these advertising sites, the Bitcoins actually come at the cost of your time. As the saying goes 'there is no free lunch'. But see for yourself, here is a list of some of the sites that I find interesting

  • BitVisitor :: Earn Bitcoins for watching websites or videos. Every page is shown for five minutes. Then you can click 'Next' for confirmation and move on to the next page. What I like about this site is that payouts come within roughly an hour. This is a major advantage compared to other sites that pay Bitcoins for completing tasks. Also, you don't need an user account here, you just enter your Bitcoin address. The amount of Bitcoins you can earn here is limited though. Per five minutes you get something like µBTC 100 (that's 100 microcoins or BTC 0.00001) which means that your hourly payout is something like BTC 0.00012. That's not too much money but it is a start to make you first Satoshis and get familiar with Bitcoin. And note, payout per five minute period varies. So the above calculation only holds if the average payout per five minutes is µBTC 100.
  • freedigitalmoney.com :: Earn Bitcoins by getting rewards fo purchases made in Bitcoin. On this site you also don't need a user account and just have to enter your Bitcoin address to earn Bitcoins.
  • CoinWorker :: Earn Bitcoins by completing analytical tasks. A user account is required here. I haven't tried this service but payouts seem to be a bit higher than with the aforementioned sites.
  • Bitfortip :: Earn Bitcoins by answering forum questions. This is a nice service because it brings people together who are interested in Bitcoin and many other topics. At the same time it allows to pay rewards in bitcoin for answering questions. This is something that would not have been possible without a currency like Bitcoin that has low transaction fees and instant transfers

Earning Bitcoins from completing tasks on websites is a viable option to actually earn some Bitcoins, but don't expect your income to be very large. I regard it as a first step to get familiar with Bitcoin in general. Also, it is interesting to see what kind of services are enabled through frictionless money transfers.

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3. Earn Bitcoins from interest payments %

If you already have some Bitcoins, put your Bitcoins to work for you. Earn Bitcoins through interest payments by lending them out.

  • Lend directly to someone you know. This allows you to assess personally, whether you regard the borrower as trustworthy. Then the two of you only need to agree on the terms like duration and interest rate and off you go. The drawback is, however, that you probably will not have too many acquaintances who match your amount, duration and interest rate requirements. But it's a nice way to earn Bitcoins.
  • Peer to peer Bitcoin lending websites with listings from various borrowers are another option. Bitbond is such a peer-to-peer lending site. Borrowers publish funding requests and you can contribute to their loan. You can fund small portions of many loans and thereby diversify default risk. Bitcoin loans usually work the same way as fiat currency loans. The borrower gets a certain amount of money over a specified time and repays the money with interest. There are two things you need to be aware of when you lend Bitcoins. The site needs to be trustworthy and the borrower needs to be trustworthy. When the site assesses the creditworthiness of their applicants the information given about borrowers can be more credible.

  • A Bitcoin banking like model. Here you place your Bitcoins as a deposit with a site that pays you a fixed interest rate on these deposits. As everything here, this method has advantages and disadvantages. The good thing is, that you don't need to diversify your Bitcoins over many borrowers. You just place your Bitcoins with your Bitcoin bank and that's it. You earn Bitcoins as a steady stream of interest income. However, be very careful. In the previous case of peer to peer lending you diversify your lending activity over many borrowers. In the banking model you trust one single borrower which is the bank. If they don't do a good job in managing your Bitcoins, everything can be lost at once. That's because the bank takes you deposits and invests them in assets, the most important assets usually being loans. If they do a good job you are fine because you simply collect the interest payment. If they don't do a good job you take the hit. An there is no deposit insurance in the Bitcoin world, too.

To sum it up, Bitcoin lending is a good way to make more Bitcoins from what you already have. And please notice this disclaimer: only lend through sites that you trust. Such sites will comply with the usual requirements that you expect from non-Bitcoin related sites as well. That means they have proper terms and conditions in place, they disclose their status of incorporation and contact details. Some sites in the Bitcoin world do not do this and in the end people wonder what happened to their Bitcoins. Therefore, when you earn Bitcoins from Bitcoin lending watch who you deal with and only use Bitcoins which you can afford to lose.

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4. Earn Bitcoins from mining 💎

Bitcoin mining is the process by which new Bitcoins are generated. When you perfom mining, your computer adds new Bitcoin transactions to the block chain (a public ledger where all Bitcoin transactions are stored) and searches for new blocks. A block is a file that has the most recent Bitcoin transactions recorded in it. When your computer discovers a new block, you receive a certain number of Bitcoins. Currently a block contains BTC 25. This number changes throughout time and gets smaller by the factor 0.5 every four years.

Since bitcoin mining has become a hardware intense and therefore expensive process, most individual miners join a so called mining pool. One of the mining pools you can conect to is BitMinter for example. By providing computing power to their pool you can earn Bitcoins from mining without the need to build your own big mining farm. There are entire communities around Bitcoin mining and besides the fact that you earn Bitcoins it's also fun. You meet new people online and get in-depth knowledge about Bitcoin as a protocol and technology.

If you want to earn Bitcoins through mining, be aware that it is a costly and time consuming process. Read the respective introductions and manuals to learn more about it. This website is a good starting point. Unless you are mining just out of curiosity and want to get to know the technology, it is important to make a cost / benefit analysis. Hardware prices, electricity costs, bitcoin difficulty and the Bitcoin value influence the profitability of Bitcoin mining. If all this seems interesting to you and you want to earn Bitcoins from mining make your first calculations on the Mining Dashboard.

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5. Earn Bitcoins by getting tipped 👏

When you earn Bitcoins through tips, it is much like accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment. You need a wallet, a QR-code with your Bitcoin address on it and the people who can potentially give you a tip need to be aware of it. There are various places where you can receive Bitcoin tips.

  • Again, your shop is the first thing to start with in case you have one. It's just a bit simpler because since tips are voluntary you don't really need to check the incoming payment and the exact amount. Simply display the QR-code and check each day what came in.
  • With tips, the nice thing is that you don't necessarily need to have a shop. A blog for instance or any other website is sufficient. You can display the QR-code or just your Bitcoin address at the bottom of your page or wherever it seems convenient and let people decide how much they want to tip you. You can also view how this looks like in the footer of this German blog bitcoins21.
  • Another really cool way to get tipped online is ChangeTip. This service allows you to integrate tips on all major social networks, YouTube and GitHub. Very nice!
  • Imagine you have a restaurant and want to encourage your customers to tip with Bitcoins, there is this nice service: bctip is a website where you can print little paper vouchers that have a certain Bitcoin balance on them. When your customer has one of these, he or she can simply give it to you or your employees and you can redeem it like a coupon.

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6. Earn Bitcoins through trading 📈

Some people would say that trading is a form of gambling. While there these two things have something in common, there are also fundamental differences. When you gamble (and assuming that it's a fair game) you have a certain probability of winning and losing. When you trade assets, this gets much more complex. I don't want to go into too much detail here. I just want to outline the concept how you can earn Bitcoins with trading.

The safest way to make money with trading is through arbitrage. In short, this means that you see an opportunity to buy an asset in one place for a certain price and sell it immediately at another place for a higher price. It is important that you know you can sell the asset immediately at a certain price. If this does not hold, then we are talking of speculation - or gambling if you prefer.

The Bitcoin world, in my opinion offers such arbitrage opportunities. But they are not as simple to execute as it might seem at first sight. Price differences between exchanges often come for certain reasons. The speed of fiat money transfers and access restrictions are just the most striking ones. You have to find out the concrete opportunities yourself. One place to start is this thread on Bitcoin StackExchange. Also, not every opportunity is available to everyone. Go and have a look at the price differences between exchanges and check out if you can find opportunities.

If you want to give arbitrage a try, you need to get Bitcoins almost instantly. One of the few sites where you don't need to sign up is bit4coin. If you spot an opportunity and want to act on it immediately, this is a way to get a hold of Bitcoins fast. If you manage to earn Bitcoins from arbitrage, this can be very profitable after all. But start cautiously as it really does require some experience.

The other way to earn Bitcoins from trading is simple speculation. In this case you would buy Bitcoins, wait until the price increases, then sell for a fiat currency. When the price drops again, you buy more Bitcoins and start all over. For this to work out you either need to be very lucky or capable of predicting the future.

There are people who are good traders and who can recognize patterns from price charts. But that's something very specialized and I'm not sure if I believe in this. So for me, if you want to earn Bitcoins from this form of trading it could also be categorized as gambling. And actually it's even more risky if you compare it to a fair game where you know your odds. When you speculate with assets, you can extract your odds from historical prices. But never start believing this would tell you something about the future reliably.

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7. Earn Bitcoins as a regular income 👨

Getting your monthly paycheck in Bitcoins is probably the steadiest way to earn Bitcoins. There aren't many organizations who would pay you in Bitcoins but there are some at least. And maybe there will be more as acceptance increases continuously. Gavin Andresen, core Bitcoin developer of the Bitcoin Foundation stated in this interview that he gets paid in Bitcoins. And chances are, that when your employer accepts Bitcoins they might be willing to pay you in Bitcoin, too.

Apart from being employed by a company or a non-profit you can be self-employed and get paid in Bitcoins. Being a freelancer has multiple advantages. You can for example earn Bitcoins conveniently from home by participating in this bitcoin affiliate program.

You can also work from home for others. Here is a list of sites where you can search job offers or where you can post an offer yourself. It's a very convenient way to earn Bitcoins, because many jobs can be completed from home.

  • WorkForBitcoin is a site where you can do both, post job listings and search available listings. Many of the listed open jobs are related to programming. But there are also other fields and it's worth checking if there is something you are interested in doing.
  • Bitcointalk Forum Services Section is another starting point to look for job listings that are paid in Bitcoins. Some of the jobs are done easily within a short amount of time so it's a good way to earn Bitcoins quickly.
  • Jobs 4 Bitcoins on reddit has a focus on job listings for programmers. But again, it's not purely programming and it's definitely worthwile to browse through the different offers.
  • BitGigs is an online job board with many diverse job offers. The variety is reall amazing so go check it out.
  • Coinality has a different approach by not simply listing jobs where you can earn Bitcoins, but displaying them on a map. This comes in handy when you are interested in a local job somewhere near you. The number of listings could be higher but when it keeps growing it will become more interesting.
  • XBTFreelancer is another job board for gigs that are paid in Bitcoin. These jobs are mostly also software related. If you have programming or other IT related skills it is therefore probaly easiest for you to earn Bitcoins with your experise.

Then of course, you can start your own Bitcoin related business and earn Bitcoins this way. Either as a fully fletched business of goods or services or you could run a website and place ads from CoinURL. If you want to start or already have a brick and mortar shop check out the earn Bitcoins downloads. The flyer shows you, how easy it is to integrate Bitcoins payments in your shop.

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8. Earn Bitcoins from gambling - not suitable for everyone 🎰

To be honest, I'm not a big friend of gambling. But it is a way to earn Bitcoins so in order to make this list complete it needs to be mentioned here. However, I won't list any links to gambling sites here. It's fairly easy to research them if you are interested. And if you clicked on some of the above links you probably already came across some Bitcoin gambling sites.

How To Earn Bitcoin: 10 Ways & 101 Websites

Today there are almost as many ways to earn bitcoin as there are ways to earn any other kind of money. In one sense that makes this an easy article to write – its not difficult to learn how to earn bitcoins. In other ways it makes it very tough to write, because there is no ‘one-size fits all’ answer which is going to suite everybody who might end up on this page.
In all honesty the best way to earn bitcoin is just to stop thinking about it as something different from the regular fiat money that you use everyday. How do you get money usually? Well, that is probably how you should go about earning digital currency as well.  But of course I do realize that its not always that simple. Perhaps you just want to get hold of a small amount of Bitcoin to try it out before buying some. You may also be struggling to earn money at all, and are interested in exploring new opportunities within this exciting new economy, or using it to supplement your income. And, of course,not very many bosses are going to be happy to pay you in BTC, so you may not think it is possible for you to earn bitcoin the same way you earn fiat money (hint: it is possible). If any of those scenarios apply to you, then hopefully this page can be of some help, at least pointing you in the right direction.
Because there are so many different opportunities out there, my guide on how to earn bitcoin will not provide a comprehensive list of every single website. Instead I will introduce you to around 10 general strategies with some links to a few of the best websites for each one and information about how to find more. The 101 websites from the title includes sites listed in other Cryptorials articles which this page links to.

Earn Bitcoins From Faucet Websites

If you are just looking for a quick and easy way to get a small amount of bitcoin then faucets might be exactly what you are looking for. A faucet is just a website which gives free coins to every visitor. You will have to fill out a captcha to prove you are a real life human being and not an automated bot trying to game the system, you may need to let your balance build up to a threshold level before the coins are sent (so they aren’t all eaten up by transaction fees), and there will usually be a limit on how often you can claim from each site; but apart from that its just as simple as providing your wallet address and asking for some free coins to be sent to you. Some of these site are set up by enthusiasts who just want to introduce new people to digital currency, but today most faucets support themselves using advertising placed on the site.
You are certainly not going to earn a living using faucets – even if you are living in a basic wooden hut in the very cheapest location in the world you would probably not be able to do that. But you can quickly and easily get a few coins to get yourself started and make a test transaction or two to get familiar with using digital currency without needing to buy any coins.
Here are some of the best faucet websites:
  1. Bitcoin Zebra – Claim every hour and get one of the highest payouts available from a faucet
  2. Moon Bitcoin – You can choose to claim every 5 minutes to maximize your earnings over the day, or claim once per day for the highest payout per claim.
  3. FreeBitco.in – One of the longest running faucet sites around, with a generous hourly payout.
  4. Weekend Bitcoin –  Regularly offers extra money for claims over the weekend
  5. Bitcoin Cryptorials – Yes, we have our own faucet here at Cryptorials!

GPT Websites and ‘Microtasks’

One step up from faucets are GPT websites where you ‘get paid to’ do various quick tasks, sometimes called ‘microtasks’. Again, you are not going to make a decent living for yourself by using these websites, but if you have time on your hands and you are looking for something you can start straight away and continue to do whenever you have a few spare minutes, and which will earn you a few more coins that you can get from just claiming from faucets, then these sites may be worth a look.
Typically tasks can range from watching youtube videos that somebody is paying to promote, to clicking ad links and spending 30 seconds on a website, to filling out surveys and completing offers, or even doing a little bit of basic data entry.
Here are some of the best sites to ‘get paid to’ do simple tasks:
  1. CoinBucks – A wide range of surveys as well as various promotional offers, some of which require you to make a purchase and some of which just want you to do things like accept a free 30 day trial or download some free software. You may not find a lot of offers you want to complete, but you do get a really good amount of BTC per offer.
  2. CoinAd – Get paid to click advert links and spend a certain amount of time on each site (usually 30 seconds or less). I’ve tested out a few similar services and this one seems to have the highest payments.
  3. BitcoinYellowPages – This directory service pays for the microtask of submitting business listings. If you can do a little bit of research and data entry then it might be worth a look.

Earn Bitcoins as a Content Producer

If you can create premium digital content then you will find that Bitcoin provides the perfect way for you to sell it over the internet.
  1. Bittit – If you have photographs or other images to sell then you could do worse than to take a look at this site, which provides a market for both stock photos and pornographic images.
  2. Watch My Bit – Upload your videos to this site and select your own ‘pay per view’ price.
  3. Streamium – Stream live video to your fans, charge per second, and get paid directly via the blockchain with no middlemen.
  4. Pastecoin – You can sell any text paste with this service, but it is most commonly used as a market for code snippets and simple website scripts.

Make A Website to Earn Bitcoin

Of course if you are going to produce digital content then you may prefer to create your own website rather than allowing somebody else to publish it for you. There are loads of great ad networks and affiliate programs that will help you to generate bitcoin revenue from your site. Take a look at these articles for more information and ideas about publishing your own website:
  1. Earn Bitcoin by Blogging
  2. Make Your Own Faucet site
  3. The Best Bitcoin Affiliate Programs

Earn Bitcoins on Social Media

You don’t even need to have your own website to start generating an income – if you are have a strong social media presence or you fancy yourself as a bit of a marketing guru, you can earn some free coins through social media. Here are some of the best websites that may help you do that:
  • Changetip – This is the most popular platform for tipping across many different social media sites, and even provides you with a custom link that you can add to your profile page to receive tips. Post great content,  make yourself useful, and wait for the tips to start rolling in.
  • Coinurl.com – If you are a prolific link sharer who gets a lot of clicks on everything you share then interstitial ad services like Coinurl offer you a way to earn coins from every link you share with your followers by placing an ad before the content you are sharing.
  • – Check out the referral / affiliate programs mentioned in the previous section – you can promote these and earn using social media too!
  • Re 2et in – Get paid in BTC for retweeting sponsored tweets.

Get A Job Which Pays in Bitcoin

  1. Coinality -Global jobs board and the option to upload your resume
  2. Bit Task – Mostly freelance work
  3. CoinDesk Jobs – Well paid full time positions, including listings from some major employers who are willing to pay you in BTC.
  4. BitcoinTalk Services Board – A great place to look for casual and freelance work within the digital currency industry.

Get Your Regular Wage in BTC

If you have a job then you can get paid in Bitcoin. It doesn’t even matter if your boss has never heard of cryptocurrency or even if they are a strident critic of it – you can get your regular wage paid to you in digital currency without your boss even knowing about it. The following services will take your paycheck and either convert the whole thing, or just convert a portion of it, and automatically send the coins to your digital wallet.
  1. BitWage – This is the best known company providing a service like this. They provide you with bank details to give to your employer, then when you get paid they convert whatever percentage you want and send your money to you the next day.
  2. Get Paid in Bitcoin – An Australian service provider which will work with your employer to let them easily pay your wage the way you want it to be paid.

Sell Stuff

If you are looking for some spare cash to provide a one-off boost to your finances then digging through your old stuff and picking out a few things that you no longer need to sell on over the internet is a good way to go. But of course you can’t just go to eBay if you want to sell your stuff for BTC. Fortunately, there are some great alternatives out there which let you do exactly that. This may also be a great way for  you to start off your own business if have something that people want to buy. Here are some of the best sites to earn bitcoin by selling stuff online:
  1. CryptoThrift – This site is amongst the most popular auctions sites which let you sell your things for either bitcoin or one of the supported altcoins.
  2. BidBit – Another great ebay-style auction website for bitcoiners.
  3. Shopify – If you want to go beyond just selling a few old things and actually look into setting up your own retail business then Shopify provides one of the world’s most popular ways to set up an online store, and will let you sell for either bitcoin, fiat, or both.
  4. Open Bazaar – This decentralized marketplace provides a way to buy and sell anything for BTC. Here’s why its better than eBay.

Bitcoin Revenue Sharing

Many website today are based around ‘user generated content’. That means they provide a platform, whether its a social network, a blog publishing site, an image sharing site, or a thousand other things, and their users actually fill it up with useful stuff. To many people that doesn’t seem very fair, because the site’s users are providing most of the value but getting nothing in return. Revenue sharing is a way to even out that imbalance by paying part of the advertising revenue generated by a piece of content (which could be anything from a social media post to a video) o the person who originally posted it. There are loads of revenue sharing sites out there which pay in bitcoin, but here is a selection of the best ones:
  1. BitLanders – A social media website where it really does pay to share.
  2. Paste4BTC – Get a share of the ad revenue from your text pastes.
  3. Taringa – A Latin American social media site with digital currency revenue sharing

Earn Bitcoins Playing Video Games

Yes, you read that right – you can get paid to play video games. Of course you probably aren’t going to earn all that much, but I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to get paid.
There are actually dozens of sites in this category so if you are interested please take a look at the full list in our Get Paid to Play Video Games article!

Section 11 – Other Stuff

  • CoinByCall – This service fascinates me, but doesn’t work in every country which unfortunately means I haven’t been able to test it. If you have any free minutes on your call plan this company can use them, and will pay you by the minute for letting them do so.