1.Mining
Mining!!! In the real world we know what that means, for example in the case of the gold industry, but mining bitcoins? Bitcoin (and most other cryptocurrencies) can be mined by using your own hardware to assist the peer-to-peer processing of Bitcoin transactions. Whilst it is technically possible to use a reasonably powered desktop computer to mine for coins, it is not recommended.
Mining involves running through extremely complex operations, the nature of which require graphical processors in order to complete them in anything approaching a reasonable timeframe. Even with a decent gaming PC with above average specifications, your rate of mining (i.e. the number of coins you can expect to earn in a given time) will be far outweighed by the cost of you doing so (primarily in electricity costs, and secondarily by depreciation in your hardware).
Even if the value of the coins has recently jumped up to a new high this won't improve matters, because the complexity of the operations tends to increase in-line with the value of the currency. The only way you can earn big from home mining, is to be out of pocket for the electricity costs now, in the hope that the few bitcoins you earn are worth significantly more in the future.
"Bitcoin debit cards are widely available and accepted"
So, lets just put that into plain words yes you can use your computer to "MINE" Isn't that amazing? You fire up your computer start the program and it spits Bitcoin back at you. And yes, this computer or laptop is known as a `mining rig'. There are special pieces of hardware you can buy that are dedicated to this mining function , one idea being what's called an ASIC miner on a USB. These can achieving mining rates of over 300m hashs/ sec. Don't know what that means? Never mind buy one fire it up and start mining. If Bitcoin prices rice to the eventual $10,000 that pundits predict you will cash in.
There are many types of mining rigs and comprehensive guides to build one can be easily found online. Always remember to calculate the cost of mining and it's profits first before deciding on mining for Bitcoins/crypto coins or if you should be trading instead.
Here's a note to remember: Mining = Get coins by paying for electricity and mining rig. So be sure that you calculate how long it is before you actually profit. For example, at the time of writing an estimated cost in my country, the Cost of a mining rig (with 2 GPU cards R9 280x) is around $900 (give or take). So if the electricity bill is $40 per month... and getting about
"Bitcoin debit cards are widely available and accepted"
0.015 Bitcoins a day from (middlecoin.com), one would be getting around 0.45 BTC per month. So if price of BTC is $650, 0.45BTC = $292.5 per month. Minus the electricity bill, you get $252.5 per month. At a cost of $900, it will take you roughly 3 and a half month to break even with your cost, and then after that, it'll be estimated $252 profits per month. Note that the calculation above may vary in different country and different mining rig build and the cost of hardware available in your country.
Of course if you want to earn more, the general way to do this is to Build MORE rigs with more Mining power (more mega hashes). The above examples are based on a GPU mining rig. For ASIC miners, you may pay more for the ASIC hardware but the good thing is, it produces less heat and noise and possibly consumes much lesser power as well. Again do your calculations before you choose the right mining rig that you want to invest in.
WARNING: As time goes by and more and more bitcoins are mined it will become harder and harder to mine successfully for profit .Which is why you should get started asap. Connect your Mining Rig to a client such as CGMiner.
"The real fun part come starts here calculating your profit."
Configure your mining rig. Note: you can choose to mine Bitcoins or Cryptocurrencies. For Bitcoin mining, it is recommended to join Bitcoin mining pools to maximize your mining efforts. For cryptocurrencies, you can connect your miner to services such as http://www.middlecoin.com/ for automated mining and payments in Bitcoin. Start mining! Calculation of Profit: The real fun part comes here.
Do your home work and workout the costs involved in setting up your new hardware mining rig. Then use a Mining calculator like this one at http://btcinvest.net/en/bitcoin-mining-profitcalculator.php The profit and respective time is dependent on various parameters like power consumption, hash rate, cost of your mining rig or equipment used and the actual Bitcoin price. This largely depends on accessibility of network. The difficulty level of the network is established by the unit metric which decides solutions Note: The general rule is to mine if the prices of the coins that you mine are more than your costs which are your electricity cost and the cost of your mining rig. Also go to btc-e.com (or any other Bitcoin sites with the price) to take a look at the current Bitcoin price.
2.Investment
If you had bought Bitcoins at $5 dollars just a couple of years ago with prices today above $600 you would have made a staggering 6000% percent increase.Thats pretty impressive. So there is much to be said about the buy and hold system here. The question is with bitcoins at over $600 whats the chances of another increase like that have we missed the Gold rush?
Well that all depends on your point of view. Remember the winklevoss brothers we talked about in the new rich list? They bought in 2012 and there holding about 1% of all bitcoins in existence. Question si why are they not selling? One could speculate that they believe bitcoin price has a way to go yet. Other pundits and financial gurus agree with a few predicting Bitcoins to reach $10,000.
A recent Bitcoin conference confidently predicts bitcoin being $2000 at years end. So simply taking a punt and buying now to hold on for a while, could be a very profitable adventure. However if that is not exciting enough for you...
"With normal currency this method would not be considered."
Another tactic that has been recently mentioned, is what we've called playing the exchanges. Here you are simply buying and selling a single currency, but you are doing so very quickly and you are selling on one exchange and buying on another.
The idea here is that different exchanges, at any given moment, provide different buy/sell prices for a currency. This is because some exchanges set their own prices, and some take their prices from another authoratitive source. Also, different exchanges might update their prices at different intervals, so one might lag behind another. Let's say you hold Bitcoins on one exchange whose values tend to be higher, and whose prices react very fast. You've also singled out another exchange that is more conservative in their valuations, and are slower to react to big changes in price.
For our example, let's say the price has been hovering around $490 per Bitcoin for a while on the first exchange. And the more conservative exchange has them at $480.
You wait until you see the price rising and you sell your Bitcoins on the first exchange. Let's say they've jumped up to be $495 each. You then move over to the second exchange, and buy the same amount of Bitcoins back before their price has had a chance to start moving with the trend. Their price may still be at $480, which means you've gained $15 per Bitcoin, but still own the same number of Bitcoins.
With a normal currency, this method would rarely be considered, because there is always a gap between what an exchange will buy for, and what they will sell for. This is simply how
"Cryptocurrencies tend to behave more like stock"
At the end of it all, you are still only left holding virtual currency, and hence any profit remains virtual too. If the price drops shortly after the buy/sell operation, so will any profit margin you had.
Playing the Currencies
As we've mentioned before, there are dozens of cryptocurrencies in existence besides Bitcoin. Many experts will hold portfolios of several different currencies at any given time.
By keeping a close eye on each one, they learn to know when a given currency is peaking (has risen, and is likely to fall soon)
And when one is in a trough (has fallen, and is likely to rise soon).
Cryptocurrencies (at the present time) tend to behave more like stocks than traditional currencies. Therefore, they are subject to the peaks and trough patterns that stocks often follow. When the price of a stock rises, people are tempted to sell in order to cash in and profit from their holding. When enough people sell, the price turns and falls. Likewise, when it falls, people see an opportunity to buy at a cheap price. When enough people do this the price rises. This pattern tends to continue until something major causes a significant leap or drop in the price.
Unlike stocks however, cryptocurrencies are not companies, and don't have products or customers. This removes some of the less predictable elements, and makes it somewhat easier to predict their rise and fall.
By swapping their holdings between currencies (buying when low, and selling when high) it is possible to quickly increase the overall value of your portfolio. However, it does require a lot of upfront research, and then constant surveillance of the prices. Plus, of course no single individual can ever.
"Binary options can work trading bitcoins"
predict the future with certainty, and there are still significant risks involved.
Dividends
Some currencies you may come across, are in fact more stock than actual currency. Some exchanges or forums related to cryptocurrency might launch their own currency, and with it offer dividend payments. The cash raised by this inital sale is treated like an investment in the company and helps to keep them running. The dividends are a way of tempting new buyers.
Similar to stock dividends, these are payouts to all current holders of the currency. For example, one particular entity might set aside 30% of all profit to be assigned to dividends and returned to currency holders. This is done in proporiton to the value you own.
These dividends are payable to you as long as you hold the currency. But you are not obliged to retain it, and can sell at any time. As with stocks, the price can also rise and fall over time.
Unless you are investing significant amounts, it's unlikely that dividends alone will provide much of an income boost. However, they are a nice addition to any investment currency that offers them.
Binary Options
With binary options, you never actually buy or sell the currency itself. What you are doing essentially is placing a bet on how that currency is going to perform.
Binary options have been around for some time, being executed on stocks, commodities and regular currencies. With the rise of Bitcoin, some of the more tech-savvy binary options brokers are adding Bitcoin to their offerings. A typical example of a binary option trade might be as follows:
"Bitcoin prices rise and fall but overall rise."
You invest $100 on your trade. You choose to trade on the value of Bitcoin
You choose an expiry time of 5 minutes The broker offers a 90% return.
You then decide whether the value of Bitcoin is going to be higher or lower by the end of those 5 minutes.
For our example, lets say we think it will be higher.
The moment you hit go, the value of Bitcoin is recorded, and five minutes later, your trade closes and the new value is checked. If the value of Bitcoin is higher, like you predicted, then you get a payout of $190 (your original $100, plus the 90% return promised by the broker).
If the value had actually gone down, your trade would have failed, and your $100 would be lost. This might seem like a very tempting opportunity, given the high rate of return possible, and odds that appear to be around 1 in 2 of winning. However, if you dig deep into the graph of something like Bitcoin to see historically what it has done within any given 5 minute window, you might be surprised.
When you stand back, the Bitcoin charts seem to be mostly rises, with a few major drops dotted in. But in reality it is constantly rising and falling it's just that the rises are ultimately bigger than the falls.
Some brokers offer practice accounts, where you can make dummy trades to see how you would have performed. These are invaluable go give you a sense of how things might go. Experts say that Binary Options trading without.
"Would you gamble Bitcoin prices are higher in the next 10 mins?"
informed advice is just like playing heads or tails. And that you should only make trades based on real signals. (For example, if you see a news article appear online mentioning another Bitcoin hacking disaster you might want to hop on and place a trade on the price going down.)
Other trades might be available, some of which might be more long-term. Example: In one month's time the value of Bitcoin will be above $600. Yes or No? (At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $492.)
Different brokers have different criteria in terms of minimum account balances and minimum trade values. All brokers tend to offer some kind of incentive or exclusive options in order to encourage you to sign up with them. Some might offer insurance on your first trade (i.e. you get your money back even if you lose) or they might offer bonus credit for your balance, etc.
So it is important to shop around for ones that might suit you. Take a look at the Resources section at the end of this report for some useful links to brokers.
3. Earn bitcoins
Accept Bitcoins as a mode of payment This is perhaps the most convenient means to earn Bitcoins. If you are the owner of a small business, you can very quickly and easily start taking payment for your good and services, the integration occurs seamlessly and quickly, irrespective of whether you own an online business or a brick and mortar shop. Completion of the following steps will get you started:
Following the creation of the wallet, you are required to display a QR-code along with the Bitcoin address just by your cash register.
Any of these two methods can be adopted in this case. Once the Blockchain.info (as mentioned earlier, you can go for other sites as well) account is setup , go for `Receive Money'. From the drop-down menu `Actions', choose `QR-code'. Herein the image needs to be printed
Out together with the QR-code and placed by the cash register. Your clients would most probably possess a smartphone in which the Bitcoin app is installed, so that they are capable of entering the purchase value in EUR or USD. Automatic calculation of the equivalent
Bitcoin value will be done by the app, wherein the existing exchange rate is taken into consideration. Once this is done, the confirmation of the incoming payment will be
"Earn Bitcoin by surfing the web, yes it can be that easy"
confirmed in the account. For using the other option too, you need to start off with `Receive Money' and then click on `Create Payment Request' from the `Actions' drop-down.
Now, the Bitcoin amount that should be paid by the client has to be entered and once this is done, the QR-code corresponding to it would be displayed. This becomes easy for the customer, because he is not required to enter any amount. To follow this methodology, compute the Bitcoin amount against the corresponding USD or EUR price prior to entering it for generation of the QR-code. Imagine the PR value of being able to say
You accept bitcoins for payment! There are of course several other advantages too, like no transaction costs or currencies losses.. At the entrance, stick a prominent `Bitcoin accepted here' icon to catch the attention of your customers. The logo's printable version is easily available across the internet. Now that you are completely prepared, start earning those exclusive digital currencies by simply selling your services and goods.
Complete tasks on websites and add free Bitcoins to your wallet
There are a number of websites which come with the idea for earning free Bitcoins in exchange for some task.. Many of these sites work on the principle that helps you to earn a little amount of Bitcoins just by going through the site. It is something like watching a number
"Bitcoinplus alows you to rent your computing power for bitcoins"
of ads one after the other and getting what you want (may be music clips or a film), somewhere in between.
While opting for such sites, remember that the return on investment that you are getting might be very little. Here, you are investing your precious time to go through these advertising sites. Here are some interesting portals which are worth trying:
BitVisitor: Here you get to earn coins simply by watching videos or websites. Every page appears for a period of five minutes, following which you can click on the `Next' button and move over to the subsequent page.
The payouts will take about an hour to come to you, which is a major competitive edge of this site in comparison to others. All you need to do is enter the Bitcoin address, a user account is also not required. For every five minutes of your online stay here,
you are paid around µBTC 100 (which is roughly equivalent to BTC 0.00001 or 100 microcoins). Going by this calculation, the hourly payment amounts to the amount of BTC 0.00012. However, there may be variations in payments of this per five minute basis. (http://www.bitvisitor.com/)
Freedigitalmoney.com: This site enables you to obtain rewards in the form of Bitcoins for making purchases with these digital currencies. Here also, a user account is not required, but you are simply required to enter the Bitcoin address for getting started.
(http://www.freedigitalmoney.com/en/ Home) Coin Worker: This site offers Bitcoins in exchange for completion of analytical tasks. Here you need to possess a user account and the good news is that the payouts are a bit higher. (https://coinworker. com/)
BitcoinPlus: In order to earn Bitcoins, all you need to do is provide computing potential to a mining pool. One very nice thing about being on this site is that you are not required to invest your precious time in this activity.
"Beware of bitcoin faucets if nothing else they are boring places to be"
You can engage yourself in other stuff and simultaneously, your computer operates in the background. The consumption of electricity may be on the higher side due to the CPU usage.
Hence, while you are operating on this site, ensure to reach an equilibrium taking into consideration the parameters of electricity cost, hardware consumption and the existing Bitcoin value with respect to your account. If you can turn it into a profitable activity, the rewards are indeed great! (http://www.bitcoinplus.com/)
Rugatu: You can earn Bitcoins here through delivering answers to forum questions. This is great for community and network building as it builds people with similar interests (that is, interest in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies) close together and offers rewards for answering the questions.
Indeed, this would never have been a possibility without a digital currency such as Bitcoin, which makes room for instant real time transfers at low transaction fees. (http://www. rugatu.com/)
FaucetBTC: A simple visit to the site and a look at the ads will allow you to earn Bitcoins. Many sites are available such as this. To get started, follow the step by step procedures of entry of the Bitcoin address followed by filling out of the CAPTCHA. This process can be repeated once in every half an hour.
The pay per visit amounts to around BTC 0.0000025 and is subject to change with the rise in Bitcoin exchange rate. Once the visit is over, the reward gets delivered to CoinBox.me. This tends to accumulate small bits of payments, and then combine them to offer a bigger lump sum. You may opt for simultaneous visits of many sites like this, which will offer you the opportunity to earn
"Use a mining calculator to see if its worth your time and money"
as well as keep yourself engaged for a considerable period of time. (http:// faucetbtc.com/)
Although the income is not huge, completing website tasks can be a great and enjoyable option, and it will help you generate some amount of Bitcoins. You will also learn by hands on experience, the transferring around of Bitcoin and that is a great insight too.
We have already discussed the process of mining, but lets have a quick recap here. As you know, through the process of mining, new Bitcoins are born.
As you indulge in the mining activity, the computer being used accumulates new transactions for building up the block chain (this is in fact the public ledger which stores every Bitcoin transaction) along with finding out new blocks.
The block is the file where you can locate the most recent transactions. As your computer comes across a new block, you get a certain amount of Bitcoins. As per the existing norms, presently one block has BTC 25. The number varies with time and can get reduced by a factor of 0.5.
As we said before use a mining calculator to see how profitable its likely to be, bearing in mind any hard ware purchase and the ongoing costs of electricity. The way I look at it though is I have my computer on anyway might as well mine in the background whilst I am doing other stuff.
"Accumulate Bitcoin through interest payments..."
Accumulate Bitcoins through interest payments This is a process whereby you earn by using the Bitcoins that you already possess.
You simply lend the currencies and earn through interest payments. Various options are involved in this. Direct lending to someone you are acquainted with: So I just mention this as a possibility ale bight unlikely.
There is no reason why you shouldn't consider Bitcoin as a money advance and lend to your acquaintances and coworkers on an interest bearing level. Both of you need to reach an agreement with respect to certain terms such as interest rate, duration and such other things. Chances are high that there won't be many acquaintances matching your interest rate, duration or amount, but even if you get a couple of them, it is an option. Websites promoting peer to peer lending:
These websites, having listings from a number of borrowers, are a good option, a great example being Bitbond.net. In these cases, publication of funding requests is done by borrowers and you can make your contribution to their loan.
Thinking about the risk? Well, in order to diversify the default risk, the wisest option is to fund little portions of a number of loans. The operating principle is somewhat similar to fiat currency loans.
As the loan is funded, the borrower receives a certain amount, which he has to repay over a stipulated time period, along with the interest accrued. Remember, that for peer to peer lending both the borrower and the dealing website need to be trustworthy. When the assessment as to the creditworthiness of the applicants is done by the site, the information that you obtain regarding the borrowers can be more credible. (http://bitbond. net/)
Bitcoin banking: This is an earning model wherein the Bitcoins are deposited with the concerned bank
"Accept tips and earn bitcoins in return"
which then pays a fixed interest rate to the depositor.
Here the advantage is that diversification across many borrowers is not done, but you place your deposit in the Bitcoin bank and earn these currencies steadily as a source of income from interest. Since you are relying on a single borrower, that is the bank, just make sure that the bank is trustworthy enough to keep your funds safe.
After obtaining deposits from your end, the bank invests them in assets, generally in the form of loans. So if the bank is doing a good job, your interest payment will flow in smoothly. Remember, there is no deposit insurance, so far as the world of Bitcoins is concerned.
On the whole, Bitcoin lending is a great option to earn some extra bucks in the form of these digital currencies. The only thing that you need to be cautious about is the trustworthiness of the source or site in question. These sites will have their own terms and conditions along with contact details and incorporation status. Go through them carefully and do additional research if it is so required.
Accept tips and earn Bitcoins
This procedure of earning Bitcoins through getting tipped is very much similar to obtaining Bitcoins as a payment mode. Here also, you require a wallet along with a QR-code having the Bitcoin address.
Again the people from whom there is the possibility of getting a tip need to be aware of the fact that they can do this with bitcoin.The novelty factor alone could be enough to inspire donations! If you own a shop, that is the first place to
"Why not ask your employer to pay you in Bitcoins , common in France"
initiate the process. Setup as described earlier on.
There is also this possibility of getting tipsthrough any website or blog. Simply display the QR-code or the Bitcoin address at any position within the page and leave it to people as to how much tip they would like to give you.
Here is another innovative way. Suppose you are running a bar or a restaurant and would like your customers to tip you. In this case there are websites like `bctip' which offers the opportunity to take print outs of tiny paper vouchers, each of which exhibit a particular Bitcoin balance. Once your customer is in possession of any one of these vouchers, they may simply hand it over to you or your staff, which can then be redeemed just like a coupon.
Get a regular income from Bitcoins Have you ever considered receiving your monthly paycheck in the form of Bitcoins?
Sounds a bit weird and funny, right? Well, this is one of the steadiest ways you can adopt to earn Bitcoins. Although most organizations would not opt for paying through Bitcoins, there are few who would prefer to.
In the near future, it is hoped that with the increase in the popularity of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, the number of such organizations would definitely increase. You might like to know that Gavin Andresen, the prime Bitcoin developer associated with the Bitcoin Foundation, gets paid himself in the form of these cryptocurrencies. Just check out whether your employer accepts Bitcoins; in that case they might be eager to pay you through the same means.
"Jobs for Bitcoin check out reddit and earn bitcoins for a variet of tasks"
On a different note, self-employed people can also get paid in Bitcoins. Here is a look at some of the sites which pay in Bitcoins and where you can look for job offers and also post jobs, if you like. The mode is a seamless one, because many jobs here involve completion of the work from home. `WorkForBitcoin' offer you the opportunity to search job listings as well as post them. Programming related jobs constitute a majority.
Work in other fields is also available, so you can always find something that you are good at and that interests you. (http://bittask.com/)
Bitcointalk Forum Services Section is another viable place to search for jobs that help you earn Bitcoins. Many of the jobs here can be done within a short span of time and hence you can earn your digital currencies swiftly. (https://bitcointalk.org/) `
Jobs 4 Bitcoins on reddit concentrates on dishing out job listings mainly for programmers. But here also, you can search jobs in other fields as well. (http://www.reddit. com/r/Jobs4bitcoins)
Another online job board which comes with a range of job offers is `BitGigs'. Check out the variety of jobs available- (http://bitgigs.com/) `Coinality' is another job site that deals in cryptocurrencies. However, unlike other such portals, it follows the innovative approach of listing the jobs as well as displaying them over a map.. (https://coinality.com/)
If you are not game for these methods, how about starting your very own Bitcoin based business? In order to earn these cryptocurrencies, you can either go for a fullfledged business dealing in services or goods, or you may simply operate a website and incorporate ads. There are many resources online on integration of Bitcoin payments with your business.