The image most people associate with initially the stock market and now the cryptocurrency market as well, is a person strung on a wire, manically screaming into a phone saying one or two of the following words, “Buy!” “Sell!” “High!” “Low!”.

While that is still a practice, which is called day-trading, that is very much present in both markets, it is not the only way to set up an income stream. The cryptocurrency market has provided investors and market participants who don’t have the time or inclination to watch every move of the crypto trend lines, with options of setting up a semi-passive or passive way of making money off their cryptocurrencies.

The thing with passive methods of trading is that the returns won’t be as high as day-trading. However, it is still a good option to consider if you want to get involved and here are a few options that are either semi or entirely passive ways of creating an additional source of income for you.

Staking

Platforms that run on blockchains that use Proof-of-Stake algorithms for consensus, allow people on it to stake their coins and make a profit off the coin’s inflation in exchange for service from the user to keep the network running and secure. Some platforms use Delegated-Proof-of-Stake algorithms and based on empirical data see more profits than PoS coins.

Each platform offers different returns and utility for their tokens, but this is possibly the easiest way to earn a profit from your cryptocurrency assets passively. Examples of stake-able coins in the market right now are; LISK, Dash, NEO, etc.

Top 5 coins for staking

Buy Exchange Coins

Some exchanges let you buy their native coins and pay a small percentage of the fees that they collect as transaction fees back to their token holders. This is not the most consistent or constant source of income, as it largely depends on the trading volumes of the exchange, but is one of the easiest ways make money on cryptocurrencies.

Each exchange has a different rate of return to their token holders and here are examples of good exchange coins you should consider buying; Binance’s BNB and KCS by KuCoin.

List of Exchange coins

Buy Dividend Coins

On platforms like Neo or VeChain there is an original coin that either constitutes or substitutes for another coin and all the trader or investor has to do is hold on to the original coins.

Like for example, Neo’s token NEO generates Gas. In this example, NEO is the original token which should be considered as buying equity in the company while Gas is its dividend. This isn’t an assured method of income, however as a method to earn money on cryptocurrencies this is possibly one of the most passive.

List of dividend coins

Referrals

This method of passive earning only works when you have a large followership on your social media or you run a channel on YouTube or something like that. Many exchanges as an opening offer or as a way to get their name out there in the community offer referral programs in which already existing users are remunerated with cryptocurrency rewards for referring their exchange, platform or project to other people.

Every company that runs a successful referral program has eventually gone on to shutting it down because of the large response, but here are the example of places you can get involved to make rather lucrative gains; Binance, KuCoin, Coinbase, etc.

Platform Airdrops

Many platforms like Ethereum or EOS run something called airdrops. It is when the projects or companies on their platforms are allowed to take their product on something like a ‘test-drive’ and pay users that are willing to get involved with their native tokens in exchange for engagement with the product and some basic information/feedback.

The only thing with participating in Airdrops is that you get paid in the native currency of the company, which means they are of very little immediate value. However, if you’re lucky and the product is good, you may see a lot of growth in value along with the growth of the project. This method involves a lot of waiting and is as passive as can be.

Find free airdrops

Bonus

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Also, read: Top 6 Crypto Trading Strategies