When it comes to crypto, I'm an earner and a HODLer. I don't spend any of my fiat on crypto, and I rarely trade. So it's no surprise my portfolio has always been skewed towards alts - after all, that's where many of the earning opportunities lie. You're never going to pick up any Bitcoin in an airdrop!
But over time I've noticed the size of my BTC holding creeping up - to the point where I now hold more BTC than I do SOL, BNB or TRX among others. And that's because, while earning opportunities for different alts come and go, I'm adding a few BTC sats to my stack every single month. It's a question of consistency over intensity.
Last month, for example, I picked up just north of 11,000 BTC sats (including Bitcoin Lightning) without really trying. That doesn't sound like much, but it works out to 132,000 sats per year - worth around $90 USD when BTC returns to its previous all-time high. So where did my January sats come from?
1. BetFury - 5,464 sats
A lot of people dismiss as a gambling/gaming site, but you can use it purely as a faucet if you like. The 'Free BTC Box' as shown below pays out 17.36 sats per hour (more for new users, I think). I withdraw my sats monthly to BINANCE on BNB Chain, which cuts the transaction fee to just 112 sats. This is great because it means your sats aren't stuck on BetFury or indeed on the Lightning network.
As well as the faucet, I also earn a few sats each day from referrals. And I could earn another 40 or so in staking rewards - but at the moment I'm choosing to take my rewards as BFG, BetFury's native currency, as the APY hovers around 55%.
2. Freebitco.in - 2,024 sats
Freebitco.in is an OG Bitcoin faucet and gaming site (founded in 2013!) with an hourly claim. Recently I reached the 30,000 sat threshold which means I also earn staking rewards of 4.08% annually on my holdings.
Be warned, the faucet starts off rather generous but becomes less and less so the more you use it. At one point I was earning a miserly one sat per claim (currently, with prices subdued, it's three sats per claim for me - unless I make a particularly lucky roll).
It's definitely worth signing up for the Freebitco.in daily email newsletter as it includes a link for a free spin on their Wheel of Fortune. This quite often picks me up an extra 50 sats.
3. Bitcoin Magazine - 1,871 sats
If you are familiar with Earn Carrot, Bitcoin Magazine is the same thing but recently rebranded. It pays you out five sats for each article you read in-app. The articles are well written but entirely focused on Bitcoin and related technologies, such as Lightning - you won't find anything about BCH or ETH here.
It's worth following Bitcoin Magazine on Twitter too, because each Friday they post a #FlashCodeFriday QR code that pays out an additional 250 sats should you claim it before it expires:
They often have celebrations or offers that bump up your earnings in other ways too.
This one's on Lightning Network.
4. FOLD - 1,440 sats
is a Bitcoin rewards debit card and shopping app. I don't use any of that, I just use the 'Daily Spin' wheel to pick up a few sats each day (five, more often than not). Achieve a seven-day 'spin streak' to get an additional 250 sats on top of your daily earnings.
Annoyingly, the FOLD app is no longer available for download in the UK, but I'll continue to use it as long as I have access. I'm currently on 44K sats total and the minimum withdrawal (again, on Lightning) is 50K sats, so hopefully I'll hit that before I get locked out. And if FOLD available in your region, you can get 20,000 sats for signing up for a rewards card
5. sMiles - 491 sats
Next up is , a geo-earning app that pays you sats for the steps you take each day. You reach the maximum daily payout (which was, for a long time, 21 sats) at 10,000 steps. Rather frustratingly, I often come in at around 9,000 steps!
Steps aside, you also get two daily spins - called Satoshi's Wheel and Fort Nakamoto. These usually pay out 5 sats each per day, but sometimes more (and sometimes nothing).
Withdrawals are also on Lightning.
6. Ziglu - 44 sats
I have a small amount of BTC on a UK-based banking app called . I didn't buy it - I got it as a special offer for signing up and making an exchange! The offer is still available and will net you ?5 of BTC. Anyway, I've just left my BTC on the app, which pays out annual interest of 2% through its 'Bitcoin Boost' feature.
So that's where my 11,334 sats came from in January. Am I missing any great earning opportunities? As I said, I don't spend fiat on crypto, and I don't do faucets with super-frequent claims (I'll consider hourly, but daily is better). outside that, I'm open to trying anything new...
