If there is one thing I could get across to all those new to cryptocurrencies it would be this: you don't have to invest your own money to get involved. There are so many ways that you can get coins for free. If you have an account on steemit, then you have already experienced this firsthand.
Another way to get free coins is to visit faucets. Faucets are websites which dispense small amounts of coin when you make a claim. You make a claim by supplying your wallet address and solving a puzzle to prove that you are human. The claims are not huge, but you can maximize your rewards by regularly visiting a set of good faucets. Then you use your earnings to buy altcoins that you believe will increase in value later on.
This guide will walk you through the process of making faucet claims and converting them to an investment coin such as XEM or NOTE. I will be making the claim from the Moon Bitcoin faucet, and I will be purchasing XEM as the investment coin. Please do not take this as investment advice. It is up to you to do your homework and make your own informed decision of which coin to buy. Since we are talking about free money from faucets, then you can consider it "what you can afford to lose."
Step 1: Register an account with Poloniex Poloniex is a cryptocurrency trading platform where you can use your Bitcoin to buy a variety of other cryptocurrencies. You will be using your Poloniex Bitcoin address as your faucet claim address. The reason is that by having your faucet claims sent directly to your Poloniex account, you avoid paying the transaction fees to send the Bitcoin from your wallet to your account. The cost of the transaction fees will quickly wipe out your faucet earnings, so we want to avoid them. There are two reasons to use Poloniex (out of all the trading platform options out there): 1. Poloniex is trustworthy, stable and is expected to be around for the long haul, so you are less likely to lose your funds. 2. Poloniex allows you to trade with as little as 0.0001 BTC.
Step 2: Copy your Poloniex Bitcoin address to your clipboard You can find your addresses by first clicking on "Balances" and then selecting "Deposits and Withdrawals" from the drop down menu. Scroll down until you find BTC Bitcoin. Click on the deposit link. It will open up a window where you can request that it shows you your address. Once you see the address, highlight it and copy it entirely. Make sure you do not leave any characters out.
Step 4: Log into MoonBitcoin faucet With your Poloniex BTC address copied to your clipboard, visit MoonBitcoin. Paste your address into the address field (not the Xapo field) and submit. You will be prompted to solve a puzzle.
Step 5: Make a claim With your address saved you can now make a claim. Select the "claim now" button. You will be prompted again to solve a puzzle. However this time when you do, a small amount of coin will be added to your balance which you can see at the top.
Step 6: Repeat Step 5 several times a day Moon Bitcoin is set up so that the more often you claim the greater your payouts. You can theoretically claim as frequently as every five minutes. However, realistically, you will probably be claiming anywhere from once per hour to several times a day. Be sure to make a claim at least once a day so your claim amount can increase from the loyalty bonus. Moon Bitcoin pays out weekly on all balances which have exceeded 10,000 satoshis. If you are diligent about making claims you should be able to reach that amount by the end of the first full week.
Step 7: Log into Poloniex and make your trade Once you have been paid, you will see the funds as a deposit in your Poloniex account. Find your favorite coin on the exchange and then buy it. You can buy at market rate, meaning you pay the lowest available sell price, or you can set a price you are willing to pay for it if you're willing to be patient for your order to fill. Either way, when your order is fulfilled, you will have traded your Bitcoin faucet earnings for the altcoin you hope will massively increase in value down the road.
Step 8: Transfer your funds to a secure wallet Once you have accumulated enough of your altcoin to make a withdrawal, you want to send the coins to your wallet. Although Poloniex has a great reputation and your funds are likely safe there, it is never a good idea to use a trading platform account for long term storage. Once you have accumulated enough that the transaction fee isn't a big deal, then withdraw them from Poloniex to a secure wallet. Each altcoin has a different wallet protocol so you will need to get the info from your coin's website and/or community.
Faucet earnings are not large. They serve as a way to introduce people to cryptocurrencies by giving them small amounts of coin in exchange for traffic to their ad-saturated sites. However, if you pick one or two good faucets and visit them diligently, these little claims do add up. When you then trade the Bitcoin earnings to buy undervalued altcoins, the profit potential for these faucets can turn out to be substantial once the price of the coin you picked increases. For this to work for you, you will need to be patient. Even in the cryptosphere, fortunes are not usually made overnight. You also need to be willing to hold onto a coin for a long time to realize its true profitability.
Happy claiming and trading!