Get Started with Crypto Investments Without Spending a Penny

I know it sounds far fetched. Some of you might even think it's a scam but if you know me you know that I am not on here to rip people off only to raise them up. Believe it or not there are plenty of ways to earn cryptocurrency for free while at home on your computer or even while on the go thanks to your smartphone.

Paid Web Activity

First up I'd like to introduce you to a couple of platforms that are changing the way we look at our online activity. In the early days websites were either pay to access or covered with pop-ups, banners and adds. That style of website was taken over by the simplicity of sites like Google and Facebook creating simple and clean looking site with absolutely no adds(at first). I believe that era of websites getting you hooked then slipping the adds in later when you are too committed to take your activity elsewhere is over. These sites have been profiting off the users for too long. Its time for them to start giving back that value users create and encouraging new users to get on-board by paying them for using their platform.

Introducing Brave Browser

A new web browser has emerged known as the Brave Browser. At its core it is a chrome browser able to use all chrome extensions. In addition it has TOR built in for encrypted browsing on and off the deep web. The real kicker is that Brave has one of the best ad-blockers on the market built into it. You can choose to block all adds or allow brave adds and notifications as you browse. The adds are very subtle and hard to notice but if you enable them you are rewarded with payments in a cryptocurrency called Basic Attention Token(BAT). The token can also be used to directly tip your favorite websites as you browse if you choose to do so.
Looking to check out the brave browser? Download it here!

Introducing PreSearch

Presearch is the most innovative search engine since Google hit the market. One of the smartest moves it has made is not to compete with Google and other search engines but to join them in their success. With Presearch your home page is fully customize-able. By adding buttons to your UI (pictured above) you can search directly to your favourite sites such as Google, Amazon, Wiki or even FB, IG and Twitter with just one click. Many sites are being added regularly. I am also a big fan of the background colour as I have always had a preference to darker themed appearances and the base colour can be changed at will.
In addition to all of these benefits there is also the added bonus of being paid 0.25PRE every time you make a search using the platform. These tokens can either be used to trade on exchanges or staked to buy advertising space on the platform. Here is a quick video outlining the concept.

Get started here! (Android/iOS App available)

Crypto Faucets & Miners

Crypto faucets are a very simple concept. They are basically free sources of cryptocurrencies. You can use them only a limited number of times a day but are given small amounts absolutely free! This article has much more information about them and also lists a few but my personal recommendation would be Cointiply where they not only give out Bitcoin for free but you can earn extra coins by filling out surveys and watching ads. You can sign up for this faucet here.
There are also some exchanges such as YoBit and CREX24 that have crypto faucets built into the platform so you are able to start trading your coins immediately.

Another way to earn small amounts of crypto on a regular basis is by using your computers CPU and GPU power to mine cryptocurrencies. Mining is the act of confirming transactions of a specific crypto by having your computer solve complex mathematical equations. The most user friendly mining program I have come across is MinerGate. Minergate allows you to chose from many different cryptos to mine and is also available on Android. The app allows you to withdraw without fees to your HitBTC exchange account.
Get started with MinerGate here and HitBTC here.

I recently came across an app called Coin that allows you to mine its native cryptocurrency XYO through a process called geomining. I am still a little unsure what geomining is exactly but as I understand it the app uses your GPS location to collect data and rewards you with crypto in the app. Once you have earned enough Coin you can either withdraw it as XYO or convert it into BTC or ETH. You can also chose to spend the Coin to purchase a Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4 or Coin merchandise. The app is free to use but you can also buy a Sentinel GPS fob and/or monthly plans to increase the speed at which you accumulate Coin.
You can download the app here to try it out.

All of the methods I have mentioned so far will only earn you a very small amount of crypto. If properly saved and held onto for the long term they could be worth a small fortune years down the road though.
In the next section I will outline the platforms that give you the best chance of making a substantial income from cryptocurrency without making an investment.

Social Media & Blogging

I am sure many of you have heard of Mark Zuckerburg from Facebook and his attempt to create a stable coin called LIBRA. I have nothing to say about this other than I don't trust Facebook with my personal information and pictures anymore so I most certainly wouldn't consider trusting a "stablecoin" created by him. Specially with bank notes being over printed and becoming more unstable than precious metals.
My personal opinion is that cryptos backed by DeFi(Digital Finance) will do better than ones backed by traditional dollars. I could go on and on about my distaste for Facebook but I'll save that for another article.

There are currently many ways to earn a living as a social media influencer on mainstream sites. Unfortunately all of them involve becoming sponsored by an outside brand or product. Thanks to the decentralization of cryptocurrency there are now much more direct ways to turn your followers and likes into income.

Introducing HIVE/STEEM

Thanks to the magic of blockchain technology, what started as a single crypto blogging platform has blossomed into many sites that access the same posts with many different UIs to suit many different styles of social media influencers.
The original blockchain was STEEM created by Steemit inc.. Unfortunately a buyout of Steemit by TRON founder Justin Sun has cause and uproar in the community resulting in a second chain being born under the name of HIVE. Both of these blockchains have multiple platforms supporting them that make it possible for you to post and earn on either one with ease. My personal suggestion at this point in time would be to sign up for HIVE over STEEM which you can do here. I could get into my reasoning more but I will save that for another post.
With these platforms you are able to post articles, share pictures and videos like you would on any other blogging site. The difference here is that your posts and comments can earn you crypto in the form of HIVE(or STEEM) and HBD(or SBD) when people upvote your content. You will also earn crypto just from upvoting other content creators. The amount you earn from upvoting others depends on the amount of Hive/Steem you have staked in your account as Hive/Steem Power. Don't worry though, there is no investment needed to earn from posting and quality content creators are likely to be noticed by users with powerful upvotes and will begin earning in no time! Some creators ear hundreds of dollars worth of crypto from a single post!

These are the many sites and apps that you can use to post on these blockchains:

Hive

Hive -Basic Blogging site
PeakD -Blogging Site with many tools
eSteem(rebranding soon) -Blogging App for all devices with tools
DTube -Decentalized Video posting

Steem

Steemit -Basic Blogging site
Appics -Photo blogging like Instagram
SteemPeak -Blogging site with many tools
DTube -Decentalized Video posting
Busy -Blogging site styled after twitter

Over the years there have been many platforms that have come and gone on Steem but I think the biggest one to hit the scene is the one I will be mentioning next so don't miss this one!

Introducing Appics - The Instragram of Blockchain

I am happy to reveal a new addition to the crypto social media ecosystem, Appics! Appics is a social media app currently in beta testing. It is basically a carbon copy of instagram but it runs on the Steem blockchain. Posting on this platform can earn you Steem, Steem backed dollars(SBD) and Appics tokens(APX) through posting content, receiving and giving upvotes. Many posts are generating hundreds of dollars which is shared between the poster and the upvoters. This means that you can earn both by posting and by upvoting others content.
Here is a quick video from the creators describing their vision:

Since this platform is in the beta stage it is an amazing time to get started and become an influencer early. If you have a large following on instagram you could migrate and recreate that following on Appics and begin profiting immediately. You can sign up either through Steem or directly through Appics but I suggest doing it through Steem so that you have both a Steem account and an Appics account.

Introducing Publish0x

For the more serious author/blogger there is a newer and more heavily regulated blogging platform called Publish0x. I personally have only started to use the platform just recently and have yet to make a post but from what I have seen so far I am impressed. Similar to Hive/Steem you are rewarded both for posting and for reading but the format is a little different. You can like as many posts as you want but only tip one post every 10 minutes or so. You also have the ability to choose how much of this tip goes to you and home much goes to the publisher. The tip itself comes out of the reward pool belonging to the platform itself and none of it comes out of the users pocket. Payouts are given in a variety of cryptos including Brave browser's native token, BAT.

There are many cryptocurrency projects that are directly posting content on this platform to keep their investors informed. The platforms moderators are not allowing just anyone to become an author on the platform, there is a limited application process. This helps to keep out plagiarists and spammers and keep the content quality as high as possible. This platform will have much higher quality content but is likely to have a much lower user base and very few to no 3rd party applications. In short, this will be a better source of information but is not likely to be a good place to connect with others the way social media is meant to be used.

Cryptocurrencies are making it possible for platforms to send micro payments to their users to reward them. Getting involved with some of these newer platforms before the crowd does could really benefit you in the long run. My personal opinion is that it will soon become the norm for all major apps and websites to reward their users for being active on their platform. Perhaps this is what Facebook is planning to do with their Libra coin once released and other platforms should follow their lead.

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