With all of the attention cryptocurrency has received over the last several months, many people that either had not heard of it or were not previously interested suddenly have lots and lots of questions. How do I get it… how do I use it… how do I store it… have any hot tips? And to anyone that had even a fleeting interest in cryptocurrency predating the Bitcoin Boom of ‘17, these questions have become as familiar as a the sound of running water.
Many of the people that have approached me with questions have been curious, but hesitant to invest their hard earned money into the ecosystem as yet. For a beginner, taking the plunge can be a daunting prospect. And for a real beginner, someone that has had only casual exposure to computers, it can be downright frightening. So despite wanting to encourage everyone that approaches me to go all in, I appreciate the many reasons some may not be ready.
When I first discovered cryptocurrency, I was already far beyond being a casual computer user, and still I had my own reservations. I certainly make my share of stupid mistakes as I’m learning through using – it’s part of the process. But I’d hate to lose any significant amount of money because I didn’t understand how to properly use software to store and move coins. I also didn’t want to jump through the USD → cryptocurrency hoops just to get a small amount of money in. There had to be a better, low risk way to experiment and learn.
Fortunately for me, one of the first things I discovered as I explored the cryptosphere was that I did not need to put in any money in order before trying out some of the more popular coins. This is because there are a proliferation of sources where anyone can obtain free cryptocurrency. These are the “faucets,” so called because they slowly drip small amounts of cryptocurrency out to anyone that steps up to claim them.
For the serious skeptics that are reading this, allow me to preempt your a-HA! moment by agreeing in advance that nothing in life is free. And so it is with the faucets. Far from being proof that cryptocurrency really is worthless “because they’re giving it away,” most faucets actually function as revenue generators for the people that operate them. When claiming from these faucets, one must be prepared to be subjected to a range of advertising tactics and confusing tasks designed to capture views and clicks, and to defeat the automated bots that some people employ to try and cheat the system.
All of this takes time and patience, and in most cases the cash value of what you are getting is very, very small. Most faucets are on timers for each user, resetting every X number of minutes. It is conceivable that an individual could accumulate some actual wealth if all they did, all day, was sit and claim from faucets. But it wouldn’t be much of a life, and it is debatable whether they’d actually be able to make a living at it. I’m sure some clever souls have figured out how to do just that, but I don’t have that kind of time or that good of an attention span.
However, in a further stroke of good fortune, I stumbled onto a family of faucets that, taken together, provided the perfect platform for me to launch my investigations without interfering with my life. Since that time, I have tested 500+ other faucets and have not found another set quite like these. So when people ask me how they can get started without risk, I recommend the Coinpot family of faucets without hesitation.
Platform Highlights
A few of the standout features of these faucets are:
Integration. All of the faucets linked in this article pay into the Coinpot wallet. A beginner with small accumulations can use Coinpot as their wallet until they are comfortable trying out the various software or hardware wallets. While no web wallet can offer the kind of security these advanced tools do, It does not seem as if the plan at Coinpot is to abscond with all teh cashes. I have already withdrawn non-trivial balances without issue.
Minimal Annoyance. Faucets can and will bombard the user with all manner of devices designed to increase their revenue and thwart bots. Overloaded buttons that generate new pages filled with advertising, link creation schemes, ads that look like clickable buttons, pornography... you name it. The Coinpot faucets, in my experience, provide a comparatively good user experience in this climate. A single Captcha, and occasional page spawns. In my own, personal bang-for-the-buck calculations, these faucets are all top tier.
Accumulating Claims. Most faucets operate on a simple timeout. For example, you may claim every 15 minutes, and the amount will always be similar. However, only one of the Coinpot faucets operates this way. Instead, the others slowly accumulate a balance while you are “away.” This is ideal for people with busy lives – the operators don’t expect you to sit in front of your computer with empty jugs within reach. Because of this, you can accumulate a balance claiming once a day equivalent to dozens or in some cases hundreds of claims a day from other faucets.
Mining Bonus. There an option to enable browser-based mining. I haven’t used it, but they fully disclose it and using it is completely optional. If you want to turn unused CPU power into some extra coin, they will share a portion of what they earn back in the form of a bonus on your claim.
Other Bonuses. Other bonuses include a loyalty bonus, referral bonus, and mystery bonus. If you claim once a day, your loyalty bonus goes up. The mystery bonus will increase every claim from 1% up to 100%. The referral bonus is a reward for referring people to the platform. The links I share below are referral links. You don’t have to use them, but if you enjoy this article I hope you will do so. I’ll earn a small bonus, and you do not lose a thing.
Instant In-Wallet Exchange. Coinpot currently supports Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash and Dogecoin. Any funds stored in Coinpot wallets can be converted on demand to any of the others. The conversion is instant, and the rate is displayed in advance.
Getting Started
Getting started is easy, and realize that once you hop on this platform, you are also getting started with cryptocurrency without spending any money or giving up your life. Go to https://coinpot.co and enter your email address and a password. That’s it! Be sure to use an email account that you have easy access to, because Coinpot will use this address to confirm withdrawals.
Once registered, Coinpot will display your dashboard. Bookmark this page - it contains stats on your earnings and tools to exchange, withdraw and deposit funds.
Earn Cryptocurrency
Now you can visit any of these faucets, enter your email, and your claim will automatically deposit into your Coinpot account each time. Your browser will remember your address, so you only have to do that step once.
Bitfun – Accumulating faucet that dispenses Bitcoin Core (BTC). Site has games that you can play, though the one’s I’ve tried have no correlation to the accumulator. You don’t have to play the games, just visit one of the game pages to claim.
Moon Bitcoin– Accumulating faucet that dispenses Bitcoin Core (BTC)
Moon Litecoin – Accumulating faucet that dispenses Litecoin (LTC)
Moon Dash – Accumulating faucet that dispenses Dash (DASH)
Moon Dogecoin– Accumulating faucet that dispenses Dogecoin (DOGE)
Bonus Bitcoin – Timeout faucet that dispenses Bitcoin Core (BTC) every 15 minutes. Amounts are much smaller compared to the other faucets on the list, and the balance does not accumulate while you are away. A small bonus to add to your other claims.
Caveats
The only real caveat that I could discover is that there is a minimum balance for each coin before you can withdraw. This wasn’t a big deal for me, because I didn’t mind waiting and, in the interim, learning. By the time I was ready to withdraw some coins, I had set up several software wallets and an exchange account and had time to explore each before using them. Actually, it was the perfect amount of time.
If you decide to continue using the faucets, the minimums won’t bother you. None are so high that storing that balance online should be disturbing. And once you’re set up, running a balance is nearly effortless. For me, it has become a 5-8 minute ritual I complete once a day. Far from being a nuisance, I find the process somewhat therapeutic at this point, though YMMV.
One further thing worth noting is that cryptocurrency values are not static. Before the Bitcoin boom, most of the faucets were far more generous than they are now. When the value of the coins began to increase, so did the value of what I had already claimed. Suddenly trivial amounts became $20, then $50, etc… While revenue generation was not my primary motivation for this activity, it was a nice bonus and certainly added to the value obtained from the time spent.
So no more excuses!
Cryptocurrency isn’t merely an investment opportunity, or even just an alternative form of currency exchange. You might not believe it yet, but what we are witnessing is the birth of the next frontier of value exchange and human transactions. The horse has left the barn, so to speak. And though I cannot prove it beyond doubt, I have no problem telling people that I have a strong belief that people that do not learn and embrace these new concepts will increasingly find themselves left behind in a rapidly changing world.
So if you are worried about losing money, or feel like you don’t understand enough to invest intelligently yet, this gameplan eliminates your last excuse and should permit you take a plunge, if you will not take THE plunge just yet. There is no way you can be ripped off, and any mistakes you make will be small enough for you to gratefully and gracefully learn from them. You have – literally – nothing to lose except 15 minutes upfront and several minutes a day. And the return on investment, in knowledge and experience, may help determine what your future looks like.
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