Recently, I’ve noticed that many newcomers ask me how to make money from cryptocurrency. Honestly, this is a great question. Most people only know to buy coins low and sell high, but in reality, there are far more ways to get cryptocurrency than that. Today, I’ll share ten methods I’ve summarized and see which one suits you best.

First, let’s talk about free ways. Airdrops (Airdrop) are the easiest to get started with—basically zero cost. Some are passive: you can receive an airdrop reward just by holding a certain coin. Others require you to take active tasks, such as registering an account and interacting on-chain. My suggestion is to follow what community KOLs post, and join Telegram or Discord groups, so you can quickly find trustworthy projects. The downside is that it takes time, and the airdropped tokens may not be worth much, with success rates that are also inconsistent.

Next are game-based earning models like X to Earn. Concepts like Play to Earn and Move to Earn have been especially popular in the past two years. Projects like Axie Infinity and STEPN are good examples. The operation is also simple—you just connect your wallet and you can start. However, you should note that usually you need to buy equipment or items to play, and as the number of participants increases, the rewards tend to decrease, which also makes it easier for guilds to manipulate.

SocialFi is also worth trying—it combines social and finance. You can publish content on platforms like Mirror and Twitter to get tips, or on platforms like Audius, you can earn platform tokens through sharing and liking interactions. This approach is friendly to creators, with no investment barrier, but token prices are often not ideal, and if you don’t have clout, it’s also hard to get tips.

If you have artistic talent, creating NFTs is another idea. Just upload your work to platforms like OpenSea and Rarible—it's easy to do. But the risks are that no one may buy it, and there are legal issues; some countries even ban NFT trading.

After covering free options, let’s talk about the hard-core ways that can actually make money. Mining with mining rigs is the most stable form of passive income. Your output is relatively fixed, and you don’t have to watch it every day. However, the upfront cost is huge, the payback period is long, and legal risks plus electricity costs are also problems. This method is suitable for institutional investors or people who have access to cheap electricity resources.

As for DeFi mining, I think it has the most potential. You don’t need a mining rig. As long as you add liquidity on a DEX like Uniswap, or pledge and borrow on lending platforms like Compound, you can earn virtual-coin rewards. The rewards are indeed generous, and coin price performance is usually decent as well. But this approach has high professional requirements and comes with significant risks—especially liquidation risk.

Earning interest by holding coins is the most “lazy” choice. Put your coins into a wealth-management product from a large exchange, and you can earn interest. You can withdraw anytime for flexible (savings/spot) products, while for fixed-term products you can only withdraw after maturity. The operation is simple and the risk is low, but the returns are also relatively low. Sometimes even the interest can’t offset the losses from a drop in coin price.

Buying low and selling high is the most basic spot trading. Register on an exchange, complete identity verification, deposit funds, and then buy or sell—it's that simple. For short-term trading, you target swing opportunities; for long-term trading, you HODL (hold on for dear life). This method has a low barrier and is easy to operate, but it requires some trading knowledge and patience—especially because short-term trading risks tend to be higher.

Futures contracts are a high-risk, high-reward game. With a small amount of margin, you can open leveraged positions for going long or going short. This method is definitely exciting, but the risk of liquidation is very large, and it demands extremely strong psychological resilience. It’s not suitable for beginners, and it’s also not suitable for long-term investing.

Finally, there’s arbitrage (cash-and-carry trading). The same coin has different prices across different exchanges. When the price spread is large enough, there’s an opportunity to arbitrage. Buy on the platform with the lower price, then transfer and sell on the platform with the higher price. The risk is low and the returns are stable, but opportunities are relatively rare, and you need quick hands. If you’re slow, the spread will be eroded.

To summarize, there are many ways to obtain cryptocurrency. Free methods are good for beginners; X to Earn and SocialFi are friendly to creators; DeFi mining and mining rigs offer high returns but also high risks; earning interest by holding coins is the most straightforward and reliable; and futures contracts are the most exciting. The key is to find a method that fits you. Personally, I think beginners can start with airdrops and earning interest by holding coins, and then—once you’ve built up experience and capital—you can consider more complex strategies.

Right now, BTC is around $75.9k, down 1.02% over the past 24 hours. ETH is around $2,080, down 0.64%. DOGE is up slightly by 0.80% to $0.10. There are still opportunities in the market. The key to getting cryptocurrency is choosing the right method and finding a pace that suits you.