Earning free bitcoin is all about knowing where to look. Between signup offers, referral bonuses and earning free satoshis (sats) — small fractions of a bitcoin — for taking surveys and completing other tasks, plenty of opportunities are available to get free BTC.
The following are all legitimate ways to earn free bitcoin, researched and tested by Finder’s experts.
Not every signup bonus pays in bitcoin, these featured offers reward you with gift cards.
Some crypto exchanges offer bonus promotions that reward you with free Bitcoin when you sign up. You can often earn even more once you deposit funds, make your first trade, or refer friends to the platform.
OKX frequently runs welcome campaigns and mystery box rewards that give new verified users crypto bonuses (often paid in BTC) for completing initial milestones such as account verification (KYC), making an initial deposit and hitting trading volume tiers.
Because promotional terms, reward structures and bonus amounts rotate frequently, always check the live offer details on OKX’s promotion page before signing up. Note that OKX platform features, licensing and bonus eligibility vary by state for US residents.
OKX
Performing micro tasks or completing surveys is a great way to earn bitcoin in your spare time.
These sites can help you get started.
On Microlancer.io, people post small tasks you can complete to earn bitcoin, such as subscribing to a podcast, signing up for a bitcoin app or reposting something on social media.
Once you complete tasks and earn sats, you can generate a Lightning Invoice to withdraw your earnings to a free bitcoin wallet that supports the Lightning Network.
If you’re looking to fill out surveys in exchange for bitcoin, check out Freecash. Create an account on the site in just a few steps, and use the site to complete tasks. Once you’ve earned enough to meet the withdrawal minimum (typically $5 for direct cryptocurrency cashouts), you can withdraw your earnings to an external wallet.
Sign up on Cointiply and begin watching videos, taking surveys or playing games to earn BTC or other crypto assets like DOGE, LTC or DASH. When you complete a survey, you’ll receive between $1 and $5 worth of bitcoin or the crypto asset of your choice.
The site has reportedly paid out over $12 million to users.
When you withdraw your bitcoin from Cointiply, you have the option of using a bitcoin, DOGE, dashcoin or litecoin wallet.
A fun way to increase your bitcoin stack is to play online games using these popular apps.
THNDR has issued a suite of games that let you earn sats just for playing.
From Tetro Tiles, a puzzle game in the vein of Tetris, to Turbo 84, a racing game, check out one of THNDR’s seven games and start stacking sats, all while having fun.
Withdraw the sats you earn in these games to a wallet that supports Bitcoin’s Lightning Network — a Layer 2 built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain.
Use ZBD — a Bitcoin Lightning Network wallet — to withdraw the sats you earn for playing games like Mobile Esports, Yomi Gardens and Bitcoin Miner — all available on both Android and iOS devices.
Keep in mind that ZBD is a custodial wallet, which means you don’t hold the private keys to the sats you manage in the wallet. Once you’re managing a significant number of sats via ZBD, you may want to transfer them to a non-custodial wallet to save your sats on the Bitcoin base chain.
If you want custody of them on the Lightning Network, send them to a wallet like Breez, Phoenix or Blue Wallet.
Certain debit and credit cards let you earn bitcoin rewards just for making everyday purchases or paying monthly bills. These are some popular crypto credit cards and debit cards.
The Gemini Credit Card doesn’t have a monthly or yearly fee. When you sign up, you can get $200 in crypto after spending $3,000 within your first 90 days of having the card.
The Gemini Credit Card also carries regular spending rewards, like 4% back on gas, EV charging and transportation (up to $300 monthly spend), 3% back on dining, 2% back on groceries and 1% on all other eligible purchases. Any rewards you earn are automatically deposited into your account.
Fold offers a Bitcoin rewards debit card with gamified reward mechanics.
With the standard free plan, spend with your Fold debit card and earn rewards through gift card purchases and spins on the rewards wheel in the Fold app, with chances to win satoshis on each spin.
Cardholders who maintain qualifying balances in Fold Reserve unlock boosted reward tiers, enhanced spins and higher cashback rates on eligible purchases.
The program also features no foreign transaction fees, ACH bill pay rewards and category boosts.
Use your Coinbase Visa debit card to make purchases either with USD or the bitcoin and crypto you manage in your Coinbase account. There are no spending or annual fees that apply.
Before earning rewards with the card, choose the crypto asset in which you want to earn rewards. If you select bitcoin, you’ll earn rewards directly in BTC on eligible purchases.
"Earning rewards in BTC just for making everyday purchases or paying my bills is one of the easiest ways to increase bitcoin holdings, while not having to spend your hard-earned dollars to buy the bitcoin itself. Just remember that if you really want to gain ownership of the BTC you earn, withdraw it from the custody of the app or exchange that holds the rewards for you to a non-custodial wallet every month or two."
You can earn interest on the cash or crypto you already have by putting it in an interest-bearing account.
When you open a River account, you can earn up to 3.50% APY on your settled cash holdings, paid out daily in bitcoin. Accrued interest is compounded daily and credited directly to your Bitcoin balance. Cash deposits are held in an FDIC-insured partner bank (Lead Bank), with no hidden fees or minimums, and you can withdraw your cash at any time.
It is available in all US states except Nevada and New York.
One of the best things about the bitcoin space is that you can get paid in sats to learn about bitcoin. The following options allow you to earn rewards.
The Yzer app provides extensive education related to bitcoin, economics and finance.
As you progress through the app’s learning modules and complete quizzes with an acceptable score, you earn sats, which you can then withdraw to a Lightning Network wallet like Phoenix, Breez or Wallet of Satoshi.
Much like Yzer, but only with a fraction of the learning material, Simple Bitcoin is another app that lets you learn and earn bitcoin.
It’s still an excellent way to learn about bitcoin and money in general, while earning sats in the process. Also, like Yzer, you’ll need a Lightning-enabled wallet to withdraw the sats you earn from the app.
The Bitcoin Magazine app rewards you with sats for every article you read. So, if you want to step up your knowledge of bitcoin, download the app, create an account and start reading! You get 50 sats just for signing up.
Once you are ready to withdraw, you can use any Lightning Network wallet.
When you download the Slice browser extension for Chrome, you’ll earn sats just for conducting your regular internet searches.
If you download the “Slice New Tab” browser extension, you can earn even more sats. This extension brings you to a Slice search engine page when you click the “+” button in the browser to open a new window. When you use this feature, Chrome still returns Google search results.
Once you have Slice installed, it shows you a new variety of advertisements as you browse the web. This is how Slice monetizes your attention. You don’t have to click on these ads to earn sats, though. You’ll earn them just for browsing. The average user receives $5 a month in rewards.
When you are ready to cash in, you can withdraw your BTC rewards to a Lightning Network wallet fee-free.
If you’re already a podcaster, you can earn Sats with the content you create using Fountain. Use the app to stream your podcast, which you can import from Apple Podcasts. To help bring attention to your podcast, create clips of episodes that resonate with listeners.
If people like what they hear in either your podcast or the clips, they can send you sats to your Lightning wallet address, which the app provides for you.
Keep in mind, though, that the Lightning wallet is custodial, which means you’ll have to transfer your sats to a non-custodial wallet if you want full ownership over them.
If you’re good at getting attention on social media, you may want to create a Nostr account to start receiving Zaps — virtual tips in the form of sats — from those who appreciate your content.
To create your Nostr account, you first have to choose a Nostr app.
Your chosen app walks you through the process of creating the public and private keys for your account, which you’ll use to sign in.
When people like your content, they can “Zap” sats to your Lightning wallet, which you’ll set up and add when you create your Nostr account.
Certain Nostr apps may have restrictions, but most let you both pay people and receive payments for good content.
You can earn free sats for using a browser extension called Lolli to shop online.
Connect a credit or debit card via the Lolli browser extension or the app, and shop online with partner retailers to earn bitcoin rewards (headline rates reach up to 30%, though common merchants typically earn 1% to 5% back).
Your rewards are held in your custodial Lolli wallet until you reach $15 worth of confirmed bitcoin (rewards generally require a 30 to 90-day merchant verification window before clearing). Once you hit this threshold, you can withdraw your sats to an external wallet.
Download the sMiles app, lace up a pair of sneakers and start walking to earn bitcoin rewards. To supplement the sats you earn from walking, play games within the app or use it for shopping online to earn more bitcoin.
Once you earn 1,000 sats, you can withdraw them to a free BTC wallet that supports the Lightning Network.
A wide variety of crypto exchanges and bitcoin apps reward you with sats for referring someone to the platform. When deciding how to earn bitcoin, this can be a simple way to cash in on family and friend referrals.
For example, you and your friend can both receive crypto rewards (promotions typically range between $25 and $50 in your choice of supported crypto) after your friend joins Gemini and completes $100 in trades within their first 30 days.
Whichever platforms you use, check if they have a referral program, and be sure to share your referral link with family and friends who like receiving free sats as much as you do!
If you’re interested in buying or selling bitcoin instead, use the table below to quickly compare crypto exchange fees, fiat currencies, deposit methods and more. Once you’ve found the right fit, select Go to site to get started.
Finder data suggests that men aged 18-24 are most likely to be researching this topic.
| Response | Male (%) | Female (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 65+ | 3.87% | 2.31% |
| 55-64 | 5.65% | 3.34% |
| 45-54 | 8.16% | 4.53% |
| 35-44 | 12.20% | 7.83% |
| 25-34 | 16.69% | 7.21% |
| 18-24 | 20.40% | 7.79% |
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