Not only is it still possible to make money with bitcoin, but you have many ways for doing so. Despite how profitable it can be, none of the following methods is foolproof — far from it, as bitcoin prices are notoriously volatile. But if you’ve got a high tolerance for risk and can afford to absorb losses, there are ways to earn money from your bitcoin investment this year.
8 Ways To Make Money With Bitcoin
| Method | Difficulty | Potential Returns | Passive or Active | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy and hold | Low | Moderate | Passive | High |
| Day and swing trading | Very high | High | Active | Extremely high |
| Bitcoin mining | High | Moderate | Passive | Very high |
| Bitcoin cloud mining | High | Moderate | Passive | Very high |
| Peer-to-peer lending | Moderate | Moderate | Passive | Very high |
| Staking | Low | Moderate | Passive | High |
| Yield farming | Very high | Moderate | Active | High |
| Crypto faucet | Low | Low | Active | Low |
1. Buy-and-Hold Investing
- Who it’s best for: Traditional investors wanting to diversify into cryptocurrency
- How to get started: Open an account on a cryptocurrency exchange to buy coins directly, or open a brokerage account to invest in a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund
- Key risks: Price volatility — there’s no guarantee that your coins or ETF shares will increase in value
- Tools or platforms to use: Coinbase, Robinhood or another exchange for coin purchases; For spot ETFs, any online brokerage, such as Robinhood, Fidelity or E*TRADE
The most common way to invest in bitcoin is to buy it and hold onto it in the hope it’ll increase in value. You have a couple of options for doing this.
Whole or Fractional Coins
You can buy bitcoin as a whole or fractional coins in a process that’s similar to buying stocks. Here are the steps you can follow:
- Open an account on an exchange or at a brokerage
- Choose your crypto
- Select “buy” and provide your payment method
- Review the order
- Click buy now to complete your trade.
Bitcoin Spot ETFs
Bitcoin ETFs hold bitcoin and track its price movements. The largest bitcoin spot fund is the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), with over $70 billion in assets as of June 24, 2025.
2. Day Trading and Swing Trading
- Who it’s best for: Experienced investors who understand how to perform technical analysis
- How to get started: Open an account on a crypto trading platform with high trading volume and low fees
- Key risks: Investing in short-term price movements is highly speculative
- Tools or platforms to use: Coinbase, Gemini, Binance.us, Kraken or other platforms offering analysis tools
Day trading is the shortest-term method for profiting from bitcoin. Strictly speaking, it means buying and selling bitcoin positions within a single day.
Swing trading is another form of short-term trading, but the time period extends to a few days or even weeks rather than a single day. Swing traders try to ride short-term trends upwards or downwards until the trend turns.
You can day-trade or swing-trade on various investment platforms that offer bitcoin. It’s also possible to day-trade spot ETFs, but it’s a more complicated process and restricted by law to qualified investors.
3. Bitcoin Mining
- Who it’s best for: People who want to participate in validating transactions and securing the network
- How to get started: Purchase a bitcoin mining rig, and join a reputable mining pool
- Key risks: There’s no guarantee that your pool will successfully mine bitcoin
- Tools or platforms to use: ASIC mining rig or a mining pool like Foundry USA, ViaTBC or F2Pool
Mining is the process by which transactions on the blockchain are verified. But it’s also how new bitcoins are produced. Miners receive rewards, in the form of bitcoin, for verifying these transactions by solving highly complex mathematical problems.
Although solo mining is no longer realistic because of the cost of the equipment and energy needed to run it, mining pools let multiple people and/or companies share resources and bitcoin rewards.
You’ll need an ASIC mining rig — the specialized computer system that mines bitcoin. This system could cost more than $10,000, according to Gemini.
4. Bitcoin Cloud Mining
- Who it’s best for: Prospective miners who lack the funds and skill needed to join a mining pool
- How to get started: Open an account on a cloud mining platform and sign a contract for the processing power you want to rent
- Key risks: There’s no guarantee that you’ll earn enough rewards to cover your investment
- Tools or platforms to use: Cloud mining platforms like Hashfly or Qfscoin
Cloud mining is a way to participate in bitcoin mining without having to invest in expensive machinery or sky-high electric bills. As a cloud miner, you’ll essentially rent computing power or space from existing mining networks.
This process can be an expensive way to start, however, as you’ll have to pay upfront and ongoing expenses — and not all bitcoin miners are completely legitimate. The chance of being scammed rises when you don’t have your own equipment.
Once you’ve selected a platform, enter into a contract for a certain amount of processing power, called hash power. The more hash power you rent, the bigger your potential payments.
5. Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Lending
- Who it’s best for: Risk-tolerant investors looking for passive income
- How to get started: Purchase bitcoin if you don’t already own it, then join a lending platform to make it available to borrowers
- Key risks: Borrowers might default, in which case you’ll lose the amount you loaned
- Tools or platforms to use: Aave, Compound or another decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform
This option isn’t for everyone, so do your homework, but you can loan your bitcoin and charge interest.
There are plenty of crypto lending websites where you can deposit your bitcoin and lend it out to borrowers as if you were your own private crypto bank. However, you will assume the risk of not getting paid back and losing your bitcoins.
6. Staking Your Bitcoin
- Who it’s best for: More conservative investors
- How to get started: Open an account on a platform offering staking, then buy or transfer your bitcoin and follow the platform’s instructions for staking
- Key risks: Your coins could be locked up for a period of time, during which values could fall
- Tools or platforms to use: Kraken, Gemini or other platforms that offer staking
Bitcoin staking involves simply holding your coins in your digital wallet. This helps to validate transactions and provide stability to a network.
For doing so, you can earn additional tokens from a network. This process is just like earning interest on your savings account at the bank.
7. Bitcoin Yield Farming
- Who it’s best for: Investors willing to accept additional risk for higher passive-income gains
- How to get started: Open an account on a platform offering yield farming, then buy or transfer your bitcoin and follow the platform’s instructions for farming
- Key risks: Fluctuating values, potential vulnerability to hackers and fraud
- Tools or platforms to use: Aave, Compound, Uniswap or another platform that allows yield farming
Yield farming is like staking but offers potentially higher rewards in exchange for higher risk and a steeper learning curve. It involves transferring and lending your cryptocurrency to various DiFi networks to help fill their liquidity needs, among other purposes.
To succeed at yield farming, you’ll need to fully understand the crypto world and how various DeFi platforms work. In addition, you’ll need to move and monitor your crypto constantly to earn the best returns.
Network vulnerabilities or protocol changes can potentially lead to losses, so you’ll need to know what you’re doing.
8. Crypto Faucet
- Who it’s best for: Cryptocurrency novices who want a low-risk way to earn bitcoin
- How to get started: Sign up with a faucet platform that offers bitcoin rewards
- Key risks: Rewards are exceedingly low for the time you’ll spend earning them and scams are common
- Tools or platforms to use: FreeBitco.in, Bitcoin Satoshi Faucet and other platforms with bitcoin rewards
A crypto faucet helps you learn about bitcoin while earning bitcoin rewards for watching ads, taking surveys or completing other tasks.
The idea is similar to Swagbucks, the popular website where you can earn gift cards for the same kinds of activities.
What To Know Before You Start Making Money With Bitcoin
Cryptocurrency is the Wild West of investing, so it’s important to know the risks before you start.
Market Volatility
If you want to invest in bitcoin, be ready for frequent and potentially dramatic performance fluctuations. While you could quickly double your money, you could lose the bulk of your investment just as rapidly.
Security Concerns
As a purely digital asset, bitcoin’s greatest vulnerability lies in its potential to be hacked or electronically tampered with. If your coins are stolen, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get them back.
How To Store Your Bitcoin
You can store coins online in a hot wallet, or offline in a cold wallet, which is a USB device or other piece of hardware.
Although cold wallets are less convenient — since you have to plug them in or physically access them each time you want to make a transaction — they’re more secure because no one has access to them. However, if you lose your crypto wallet, you won’t be able to access your coins.
Regulatory Uncertainty
Governments have immense power to limit the spread and usage of digital assets, so regulation is an ongoing risk to bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies.
Tax regulations further complicate bitcoin investing. Be sure to understand what constitutes a cryptocurrency investment and accurately report your participation in transactions on your tax returns.
Final Thoughts: Can You Really Make Money With Bitcoin?
It is possible to make money with bitcoin, but the approach you take matters. Popular strategies include buy-and-hold investing, staking or even lending through trusted platforms. Higher-risk methods like day trading, mining or yield farming can deliver bigger returns, but they also come with much greater chances of loss.
If you’re new or unsure, start with lower-risk options — and always remember that bitcoin is highly volatile. Never put in more than you can afford to lose.
Making Money With Bitcoin: FAQ
Have questions about making money with Bitcoin? These answers to some frequently asked questions can help you get started.- What's the best way to make money with bitcoin in 2025?
- The best way to make money with bitcoin depends on your risk tolerance and your investing budget. Staking is a fairly low-risk way to invest, and it can provide decent returns.
- How can you invest in bitcoin and make money?
- Buying and holding is one way to invest in bitcoin. Consider investing a little each each month so that over time, you buy more bitcoin when prices are lower and less when they're high.
- Can you really make money on bitcoin?
- Yes, you can make money with bitcoin. Any of the methods listed above, including buying and holding, staking and mining, could make you money.
- How do I start getting paid with bitcoin?
- You can start making money with bitcoin in a few ways. Consider using a bitcoin faucet to earn tiny amounts of bitcoin for completing simple tasks. Unlike other methods for making money with bitcoin, faucets require no special equipment or knowledge, and you don't have to invest in crypto to participate.
Kelli Francis contributed to the reporting for this article.