What is a cryptocurrency faucet? There’s a lot of jargon to learn in the world of virtual currency, and if you’re not sure what a crypto faucet is, you’re not alone. Basically, a faucet is a means to collect small amounts of crypto in exchange for performing tasks.
Remember the old online work-from-home schemes where you were required to click an ad or a link to earn rewards? The crypto faucet can behave much in the same way depending on the arrangement, who’s running it, and why.
To earn crypto from such a faucet you may be required to watch streaming ads or click on sponsored URLs, etc. You could also be asked to complete puzzles or quizzes, view a promo video, etc. Some require you to click through on links or solve Captchas.
How long you are expected to perform these tasks and for what end result depends greatly on the nature of the campaign.
About Cryptocurrency Faucets
If you visit a faucet website and participate, you may be required to register, add your crypto wallet address, and possibly other data. When you start taking part, you may have a fixed period of time to complete tasks, claim rewards, etc.
You may be required to use a “microwallet” to store the small amounts of crypto you earn for each faucet task. Depending on where you sign up, you may find these micro wallets are automatically created for you when you set up an account.
Crypto Faucets: Users Beware
There are good faucets, and there are those run by people running scams. Are you being asked to enter a typical amount of personal information when you participate in a faucet offering? Or are you being asked for too much? Being asked to give away your crypto private keys, for example.
But harvesting your personal data is only one of the dangers. You could also encounter faucets operated by people who have no intention of actually paying the rewards advertised. This is a common scam.
You could also be asked to click on compromised links that either serve as phishing attempts, a way to infect your computer with a virus or spyware, etc. Beware of crypto faucet schemes that require you to click through–it’s best to do some research on such projects before you commit.
Coin-Specific Cryptocurrency Faucets
There are plenty of operations that cater specifically to one type of virtual currency. Not all cryptocurrencies may have them, but those that do include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, etc. Some sources report that in the earliest days of these faucets, the Bitcoin-centric ones were worth five Bitcoins(!)
Bitcoin is said to be the currency featuring the first faucet operation–the practice caught on with competing digital currencies and led to the conditions we see in the marketplace at press time, with both faucets and crypto airdrops being significant marketing ploys.
The following list is not an endorsement of or encouragement to use any of the services below. Always check out any unfamiliar platform, exchange, or service carefully before committing funds.
Bitcoin Cash Faucets
Remember when Bitcoin forked and the result was Bitcoin Cash? There are faucets for Bitcoin Cash including one destination called Faucet Crypto which pays rewards for using the platform–those rewards are paid in Bitcoin Cash.
There are also rewards for clicking links and viewing ads. Another site, Konstantinova, offers free tokens for time spent harvesting it but there’s one catch–tokens, but the rewards are sent out automatically to FaucetPay.io.
That means you are required to set up an account with FaucetPay.io. The tradeoff is the ability to earn a fraction of BCH up to 50 times per day.
Ethereum Faucets
An Ethereum faucet offers small amounts of cryptocurrency in exchange for users completing steps or tasks. There are a variety of sites with Ethereum faucets including an earn-by-playing-games site called Bestfaucetsites.com (which features a directory of projects that pay directly into digital wallets), plus Ethereum-faucet.org and Allcoins.pw.
Litecoin Faucets
When using a Litecoin faucet, you’re putting in time doing tasks for Litecoin rewards from companies such as Moon Litecoin–these companies may place such rewards into a micro wallet until your account reaches a certain payout threshold; then the earnings are transferred into your digital wallet in a fee-free arrangement (which was operational at press time. Your experience may vary.) Fire Faucet also pays in Litecoins for the various tasks you must perform, but it also requires you to register on the official site and sign up for something called “auto claim points” that you will need to be paid in crypto., etc.
Tron Faucet
You can earn Tron by referring your friends, doing surveys, or playing games. A site called Xcolander.com offers the ability to play every 15 minutes and there may even be rewards for simple account creation.
You can also withdraw the tokens you have earned without paying fees under the right circumstances. Another platform, Faucet Crypto, has a captcha solving and game playing process for earning free Tron on an every-20-hours cycle.
Monero Faucets
If you are interested in getting to know Monero, you can use a Monero faucet to earn crypto in various ways. One site called Express Faucet has a lottery you can play to try to earn some free Monero, the previously mentioned Allcoins.pw offers a Monero faucet with no threshold for withdrawing what you’ve earned.
ZCash Faucets
Pipeflare is a faucet that supports earning free Zcash tokens–account creation and captcha solving are typical ways to earn and there’s no minimum to withdraw your earnings. Globalhive is a faucet offering free Zcash every 20 hours and those earnings can be placed directly into a digital wallet without a micro wallet middleman.
Joe Wallace has covered real estate and financial topics, including crypto and NFTs since 1995. His work has appeared on Veteran.com, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and many print and online publications. Joe is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News.