Browse the internet and you will see numerous sites and opportunities to win a free Bitcoin. However, it is unlikely that any of them are real.
They are most likely scams trying to steal your money by offering you the chance of further riches. For those who perhaps missed out on the cheaper cost of Bitcoin and want to gain a holding without purchasing it directly, then trying to get free Bitcoin can be very tempting.
Let’s have a look and see whether there are any legitimate chances to win a free Bitcoin on the world wide web.
Coin Rivet competition
A legitimate chance to win a free Bitcoin took place on this very website as a promotion to celebrate its launch. The competition ran from October 2018 to January 2019, with the only entry requirement being to fill out a simple form.
In the world of distrust that is cryptocurrencies, there was plenty of healthy scepticism around this competition. However, a winner was announced in January who was then invited to visit the Coin Rivet office to receive their prize. You can see the winner being announced here on our YouTube channel, along with their visit to our office, with CEO Sheba Karamat carrying out the handover duties.
Free Bitcoin on Google
Were you to type “free Bitcoin” into Google, you will find a plethora of options. The legitimacy of most should be questioned, however. Many of the top results refer you to Bitcoin faucets.
Faucets work as a reward system for users completing menial tasks such as filling in Captchas. While it is possible to earn free Bitcoin by completing these tasks, the payouts are such that you are only ever likely to receive a few satoshis in return for your time and effort. The profit from these websites is usually made through the variety of adverts they run.
If you want to learn about Bitcoin and play around with very small amounts, then this might not be the worst introduction to the world of cryptocurrencies.
Earn Bitcoin by providing services
A safer and more legitimate method of winning free Bitcoin is to provide a service to the community. The service can be anything you choose, be it helping with development, providing artwork, or merely being funny.
Many members of Twitter or Reddit provide their Bitcoin wallet address for anyone who would like to tip them for the services they provide. Through this method, and if you are successful enough, you might find yourself earning some free Bitcoin or other form of cryptocurrency.
Gambling
If you are a risk-taker by nature, then gambling could be a potential method to win yourself some free Bitcoin. There are of course many risks to gambling – the casino always wins as they say. But there are now numerous cryptocurrency gambling websites that claim to offer fair chances of winning. If you strike it lucky, you may find yourself the proud owner of many more Bitcoin, but don’t ever bet more than you are willing to lose.
Shadier methods
Cloud mining is one method many people have used to earn themselves free Bitcoin. Through this, users provide capital upfront and are supposed to be rewarded with a cut of the mining profits of the pool. Most cloud mining platforms offer reward referral schemes as well. Yet for many of these sites, this is the actual income revenue that is then distributed, with little to no mining actually taking place.
In essence, they become large pyramid schemes through these referral programs that continue to pay out to old users. Unfortunately, like many pyramid schemes, when there are no new users, they then collapse. It would be a wise move to steer clear of such websites.
Famously, there used to be a number of Ethereum scam giveaway bots on Twitter that would latch onto famous Twitter personalities and offer free cryptocurrency. The only catch was that you had to send some first in order to receive more back. These scams became extremely popular and ultimately profitable for those running them. Should Bitcoin rocket in price, then expect to see a return of such schemes.
If anyone or any website offers to give you free cryptocurrency in return for sending them some first, you may as well assume it is a scam.
Conclusion
There are not many legitimate competitions to win a free Bitcoin, but it is possible there are some out there (as Coin Rivet showed). Always ensure you complete your own due diligence and verify the trustworthiness of anyone offering free Bitcoin. If you need to provide capital upfront to have a chance of winning, then it is likely to be a scam.
As always, stay safe out there!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.