The web3 umbrella covers blockchain, crypto, and NFTs. And as time goes on, more and more use cases emerge for these different areas. Some uses are novelty, others are designed to simply improve current ways of doing things, but some offer money-making potential. Unsurprisingly, the opportunity to profit is often the area that gains the most attention and traction from those outside the web3 space.
If you are interested in using web3 to make money, here are 5 interesting ways you can do so.
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DeFi
DeFi, or decentralized finance, is probably the most common way to make money in the web3 space. DeFi is a term used for new financial models that have been made possible through blockchain technology. It exists to tackle traditional, centralized finance models where banks and governments hold the vast majority of the power.
By removing the banks and central intermediaries, it allows people to have greater access to financial services and also makes transactions cheaper by cutting out the middlemen. Although DeFi exists to provide a better way for people to hold their assets, there are also a few ways to make money through this new technology.
Investing
Investing in crypto assets such as cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin and Ethereum) or NFTs has become an alternate investment option for people who have lost faith in traditional investment avenues such as stocks and shares, precious metals, and real estate. The volatility of crypto often means that while it is a riskier investment, there is potential for higher returns.
Day Trading
Similar to the way people day trade stocks and foreign currencies, crypto day trading is becoming a newer option for short-term investors. As with long-term crypto investments, day trading cryptocurrencies can offer more lucrative rewards but it also carries greater risk compared to traditional day trading options.
Staking
Any blockchain that uses a Proof-of-Stake mechanism allows holders to ‘stake’ their crypto. While staking can be a complex process to understand for beginners, it essentially means that assets are being locked up in return for rewards in the future. These locked assets help blockchains to regulate networks without the need for a centralized intermediary.
Unfortunately, while DeFi is an exciting new financial technology, it is often the place where most crypto scams occur. DeFi users should make themselves aware of the best safety practices and contact a crypto recovery firm if they’ve become a victim of a scam.
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Support Projects
Many web3 projects combine web2 social media with DeFi to create web3 marketing campaigns. These campaigns generate hype while allowing users to earn rewards related to a specific project based on their social activity.
Some projects simply reward users for shilling their project on socials, the more you plug, the more you earn. This arguably generates the most hype but often leads to bots and spam, and a downside is the lack of authenticity that comes with the increased promotion.
Other projects may reward for carrying out tasks such as inviting friends and sharing updates on socials. Often games or platforms introduce leaderboards and point systems to support this. With this type of marketing, users are incentivized by getting a head start on others as well as earning rewards, while the projects themselves attract more early users that act as a mouthpiece for the project.
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Move-to-Earn
Move-to-Earn combines physical activity with the crypto space to offer users the chance to earn money from their morning gym session, their evening walk, or anything in between.
Attaching a monetary incentive to exercise could have huge positive implications for physical health levels and help to tackle things like rising obesity levels that happen as a result of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.
The most popular Move-to-Earn game is STEPN, which was the first and one of the biggest games in the Move-to-Earn space. On STEPN, users can participate in the movement by purchasing a STEPN NFT shoe of which there are four different types, with the type of shoe determining how much you can earn when exercising, and also determining what speed you need to be working out at.
When it comes to physical activity, smartphones can track a user’s movement to determine if they are working out at the desired speed. If so, the user can earn tokens that carry real-world value.
Alternatives to STEPN include the following projects:
- Step App
- Dotmoovs
- Calo Run
- AGLET
- Sweatcoin
Play-to-Earn
Play-to-Earn (P2E) was the original alternative to earning crypto outside of DeFi. Play-to-Earn is exactly what it sounds like, playing video games to earn real money.
Often the earning part is done through an in-game currency that carries real-world value and can be traded on a crypto exchange. Alternatively, players may earn by selling in-game assets that come in the shape of NFTs. For example, upgrading NFT weapons or characters will increase their value when it comes to trading them on marketplaces.
The most popular Play-to-Earn crypto games include:
- Axie Infinity
- CryptoKitties
- Decentraland
- Gods Unchained
- Battle of Guardians
P2E games became particularly popular in less-developed countries like the Philippines where these games became a genuine alternative to normal jobs due to low pay, unstable economy, and long working hours.
In terms of the history of P2E games, they started simple and often passive; games like CryptoKitties had huge earning potential but didn’t offer a huge amount of fun. The graphics and depth of games certainly didn’t compete with traditional games on consoles or PC.
Today, the space is evolving. And web3 game developers understand the need to increase playability and improve UX while maintaining the potential for gamers to earn from their endeavors.
Sleep-to-Earn
Play-to-Earn led to Move-to-Earn, and next came many more variations with some being wilder than others. Believe it or not, you can even earn crypto rewards in your sleep with the emergence of Sleep-to-Earn.
Sleep-to-Earn projects are aimed at tackling sleep deprivation by persuading people to get more sleep through the potential to earn money. Projects usually involve sleep-tracking apps that determine how much users have slept and can subsequently earn.
Here are a few crypto projects that offer the chance to earn rewards from sleeping:
SleeFi
By purchasing a SleeFi bed-shaped NFT, users can earn the SLFT token that can either be used in the game itself or cashed out for profit.
MetaGym
Although it positions itself as an Exercise-to-Earn mobile app, MetaGym allows users to earn from their recovery and healing as well as their workouts, innovatively combining the worlds of Move-to-Earn and Sleep-to-Earn.
Sleep Future
Similar to SleeFi, Sleep Future is a purely Sleep-to-Earn mechanism that allows sleepers to earn the SLEEPEE token which, at the time of writing, carries an all-time high of $0.2488.
