Some know I've been using crypto faucet websites and trading the (small) earnings for the social network's cryptocurrency (first STEEM, and then HIVE).
I was converting everything into satoshi (Bitcoin) then trading it for STEEM or HIVE, but now that the crypto prices are high, the faucets are paying less (they pay based on USD values, and the higher the crypto's price is, the less crypto is needed to reach those values in USD). So, I am only accumulating for now and waiting until my faucet earnings are worth more before trading.
Image source: Openclipart
The faucets I'm using are the ones from CoinPot:
- Bonus Bitcoin: pays in Bitcoin (satoshi).
- Bitfun: pays in Bitcoin.
- Moon Bitcoin: : pays in Bitcoin.
- Moon Cash: pays in Bitcoin Cash.
- Moon Dash: pays in Dash.
- Moon Litecoin: pays in Litecoin.
- Moon Dogecoin: pays in Dogecoin.
What I like about the CoinPot faucets is that every time we claim, we get 3 CoinPot Tokens in addition to the faucet's cryptocurrency, which can also be converted into any of the supported cryptos and traded. Even when the faucets are paying very little (like at the time I'm writing this), the 3 CoinPot Tokens (each one is worth close to 1 satoshi) make up for it. I had been planning to accumulate the CoinPot Tokens, and once an opportune moment came, convert everything into satoshi as usual. However, in mid August 2020, CoinPot introduced a new feature that changed my plans.
CoinPot's VIP Rewards
The "VIP Rewards" program is like an investment in CoinPot Tokens. Now they're paying at least 0.02% daily interest on the user's CoinPot Tokens balance. I said "at least" because there are different reward levels depending on how many tokens the user has. Aside from the daily interest in CoinPot Tokens, there are also other (also daily) rewards depending on the level:
- Standard: the level everyone starts at (balance less than 100,000 tokens). Pays 0.02% interest in CoinPot Tokens every day (equivalent to 7.57% per year).
- Bronze: balance between 100,000 and 499,999 CoinPot Tokens. Pays 0.04% daily interest in CoinPot Tokens (equivalent to 15.72% per year). Aside from that, this level gives a few more perks: 4 CoinPot Tokens for each faucet claim instead of 3, one challenge star, and 10 free lottery tickets.
- Silver: balance between 500,000 and 999,999 CoinPot Tokens. Pays 0.06% daily interest in CoinPot Tokens (equivalent to 24.47% per year). Gives 4 tokens per faucet claim instead of 3, 2 challenge stars, and 25 free lottery tickets.
- Gold: balance between 1,000,000 and 2,499,999 CoinPot Tokens. Pays 0.08% daily interest in CoinPot Tokens (equivalent to 33.89% per year). Gives 5 tokens per faucet claim instead of 3, 3 challenge stars, and 50 free lottery tickets.
- Platinum: balance between 2,500,000 and 4,999,999 CoinPot Tokens. Pays 0.10% daily interest in CoinPot Tokens (equivalent to 44.03% per year). Gives 5 tokens per faucet claim instead of 3, 4 challenge stars, and 100 free lottery tickets.
- Diamond: balance over 5,000,000 (5 million) CoinPot Tokens. Pays 0.12% daily interest in CoinPot Tokens (equivalent to 54.92% per year). Gives 6 tokens per faucet claim instead of 3, 5 challenge stars, and 250 free lottery tickets.
What caught my attention in these new rewards weren't even the daily interests. Sure, the interest payments for the higher levels seem great, but I don't expect to reach them (those are probably only for users really willing to invest, and spend reasonable amounts of money to buy tokens rather than just earn a few bucks through the free faucets). At the Standard level (where I am at), the daily interests are nothing special. In August when the rewards program began, my balance was 12k tokens and the daily interest was only 2 tokens (I can get 3 additional tokens just for finding time in a day to squeeze in one more faucet claim). What caught my interest, though, were the other bonuses:
- More tokens per faucet claim: each time we claim from any of their faucets, we usually get 3 CoinPot Tokens along with the faucets' respective crypto. As I already mentioned at the beginning of the post, it's a bonus that I really like, and being able to increase the bonus for every claim makes it even better.
- Challenge stars: CoinPot has challenges we can complete (goals like making 100 faucet claims in a day). We get stars for every challenge we complete.
Edit (2021/01/07): I'm adding this note after having reached the Bronze level. As we complete challenges and get stars, we normally get 100 free CoinPot Tokens for every star, and when I wrote this post, I had thought the same would happen for the stars we get from the reward levels. Sadly, it's not the case. The stars from the reward levels don't give 100 free CoinPot Tokens. - Free lottery tickets: I've never used their lottery (the prizes are also in CoinPot Tokens) because I didn't want to spend my tokens to buy tickets (I'd rather accumulate them to trade lather instead of wasting them on tickets, considering I wouldn't win most of the time). If I get some free tickets, I may consider using their lottery once in a while.
If CoinPot's idea was to add more value to their token and keep it closer to the satoshi price, I believe they succeeded. The coin was rather "useless" before, but now I don't doubt some people are depositing other crypto to their CoinPot wallet, to convert into CoinPot Tokens and increase their balance to reach higher tiers.
As for me, I intend to do it the "hard way," just by collecting the tokens normally. For now, I think Bronze level (100k tokens) is nice enough, and doable enough without having to actually spend money. The way from 100k (Bronze) to 500k (Silver) is a much longer way to go without any increase in perks. So, I think I'll just aim for Bronze and stay there. I believe 4 tokens per faucet claim instead of 3 + the daily interest (100k tokens give 40 tokens in interest per day) should be a nice boost to resume the original plan of earning crypto from the faucets and trading (sadly the challenge star doesn't give 100 free tokens, but oh well...).
In three months, I was able to collect 42k CoinPot Tokens (only a bit more until I reach 50k which is the half way point). I intend to reach Bronze level, and then resume the plan of converting the tokens to satoshi, but only what gets above 100k (I need to keep a balance of at least 100k so I can stay on the Bronze level). Hopefully, I'll get there in more three or four months.
If anyone else is interested in earning HIVE through faucets and would like to use the same faucet websites as me, here's a post with in depth explanations of how each one works. The post is old and some things have changed (like the minimum withdraw values and how many times I use the faucets per day), but everything else is still the same.