I've been looking for ways to earn cryptocurrencies without having to buy using fiat currency and I discovered there are plenty of opportunities out there even in a so called "bear market." That's actually one of the reasons I'm writing this on steemit. Below I'll list some of the opportunities that have helped me gain ethereum.
Totle.com portfolio tournament. Back in December, a portfolio management and DEX platform called totle.com set up a tournament in which anybody could set up a mock portfolio. Portfolios with the biggest gains for the day and week would receive prizes ranging from $50 to $500 worth of ethereum. I happened to come in 2nd place in one of daily competitions and 3rd place in weekly for which I received a totle of about $150 worth of ethereum. They've since stopped doing the tournaments but I've been following the platform closely and have requested to join their beta. I'm currently on a waitlist but by sharing the link, I can move up on the waitlist so I'll do that now. http://www.totle.com?referral=HyHqQvXjM&refSource=copy
Steemit platform. I first became interested in steemit over a year ago when I found out it was a social media/ blogging platform with and on it's own blockchain. I've always been a writer and I've been interested in blockchain since I heard about it and also began realizing the many problems with traditional social media websites where you basically have no control of your information. Steemit was a natural solution to those problems as well as a great benefactor to freelance writers/ content producers. Steemit has allowed me to make actual value by providing content and blog articles. But of course you already know that if you're reading this :)
Ethereum Development/ Bounty Hunting/ Writing Smart Contracts
This so far has been the most difficult, challenging but also rewarding way of earning ethereum/ other cryptocurrencies. Also I should mention, the one that I personally have been the least successful. Many new blockchains have bugs and other discrepancies that most people don't know about yet. But in the sake of growth and improvement many blockchain organizations such as Ethereum itself offer bounties or real rewards for discovering and solving problems within their blockchain. Those are commonly referred too as "bounties." There's a great list of bounties currently out there that are only a few google searches away. For example, The komodo platform was looking for someone who could offer a solution to trading Bitcoin protocol based coins with ERC20 tokens in which they offered a great sum of money in doing so. They've since then figured it out but you can only imagine it cost a pretty penny. Also, a lot of companies that have offered ICO's now have a ton of cash parked and are looking for experienced developers. Developers can put themselves in excellent positions because if they get paid per project or per contract because they get real value from something that could be a risk. Such as when an actor gets paid upfront regardless on how the movie performs. It's a great time to get into developing.
To keep it brief, I've only offered a small list of ways that you can earn cryptocurrency but I'm always interested in different opportunities so feel free to post any other ways of earning cryptocurrencies that you know of below in the comments .