Buying cryptocurrencies is simple. As the market grows, more and more people are willing to get paid in Bitcoin and other digital assets for the goods and services they provide. In the early days of Bitcoin, if you weren’t a miner, one of the few ways to get it was to use a Bitcoin faucet that would spend BTC every time you completed a simple task. Today, many promising companies – particularly tech startups – are happy to pay employees and freelancers in cryptocurrencies. Similarly, there are several ways for players to accumulate satoshis (the equivalent of Bitcoin “cents” or “pennies”) and claim cryptocurrencies simply for streaming and engaging with their audience.
How to earn cryptocurrencies as a gamer
In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at all the different ways you can make money with cryptocurrency. We will also consider the benefits that await companies that choose to both pay employees and freelancers in cryptocurrencies and accept them as a form of payment.
The video game industry is worth close to $160 billion. While in the past, gamers did not have the opportunity to monetize their activity in the virtual world, this has changed thanks to the emergence of content-sharing platforms such as Twitch and DLive, new monetization models, including subscription services, as well as the proliferation of esports tournaments.
According to The State of Online Gaming 2020, an in-depth report based on responses from 4500 global players, more than 38% would like to become professionals if they could make a living financially. It is obvious that the astronomical success of people like PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg), Nina (Tyler Blevins) or Preston Arsement inspired an entire generation. So, it’s only natural that other players would want to learn how to make money on cryptocurrencies while playing games.
As gamers are largely young and tech-savvy, it’s no surprise that some of them prefer to make money from cryptocurrencies rather than fiat money. And there are several platforms that allow them to do so. Since these players would be playing anyway, these solutions are basically a way to earn free cryptocurrency from your daily life.
- DLive
A blockchain-based live streaming platform, DLive uses its own “virtual reward points system” known as Lemon. In the DLive ecosystem, Lemon is a virtual currency used to reward players or pay for subscriptions. The unit price of Lemon is set at $0.012, and payouts are paid to players every 2 weeks. The minimum withdrawal threshold is 4250 Lemon ($51), but since DLive is owned by TRON, players who do not live in the United States can also request a withdrawal in TRX, BTT, or USDT stablecoins. Lemons cannot be traded outside the platform.
- Rally
Rally is a bit different from platforms like DLive or Twitch. Essentially, it was designed to allow players to earn without having to rely on the aforementioned services, through a separate economy where supporters can buy, transfer, and hold unique assets known as Creator Coins. Because Creator Coins are completely unique to a given streamer and have a monetary value like any other asset with a finite supply and quantity, they can help players earn even if they are censored from the platform or leave for any reason.
- Twitch
The Amazon-owned streaming service with over 16 million daily users has had a love-and-hate relationship with cryptocurrencies so far. In early 2018, the platform accepted subscription payments in both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, but in mid-2019, it quietly dropped support for these assets. Then, in 2020, Twitch turned the tide once again, going so far as to offer a 10% discount to subscribers who paid in cryptocurrency.
In fact, Twitch has extended its support for cryptocurrencies to include ethereum (ETH) and USD-pegged stablecoins such as GUSD, USDC, PAX, and BUSD. While Twitch players themselves cannot, at this point, earn cryptocurrency, they can accumulate virtual assets known as Bits (each worth 1 cent) in the game, which are redeemable for fiat money. Perhaps in the near future, Twitch will allow players to exchange Bits for Bitcoins?
Of course, you don’t have to be a professional gamer with an army of dedicated followers to earn crypto from gaming. Immersive virtual reality games such as Decentraland, Sandbox, and Somnium Space have their own economy and currency, which means that players can buy and sell virtual land and in-game assets represented by Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Players can create experiences and charge entrance fees, rent virtual land, or attend events hosted by other players.
Earn crypto as a business
As mentioned, businesses can benefit from eliminating the middleman (e.g., a bank) and accepting cryptocurrency as a mode of payment. Fast, secure, and cheap transactions are not the only benefit; Businesses benefit from a wider user base, including 1.7 billion people who don’t have access to a bank account.
Although there is only ok. With 55 million blockchain wallet users at the time of writing, this number is growing all the time. Thanks to PayPal recently confirming support for cryptocurrencies, digital assets can now be spent in 26 million merchant stores. Considering that there are 346 million PayPal accounts worldwide, this is a big win for the industry.