Want to make money in crypto sans trading? Here are some unorthodox ways to do it!

With applications of Defi (Decentralised Finance) increasingly taking center stage, you can put your crypto-assets to work in order to generate maximum returns with minimal risks. (Image: Shutterstock)

Trading in cryptocurrencies is indeed very lucrative,  given the promises of overnight riches and substantial gains. But not a lot of people are actually able to tap into the famed price waves and “dips” that allow for this. And with bitcoin having recently seen a favorable price upswing, rallying over the 40,000-mark and currently trading with a weekly rise of 2.59 percent at 39, 520 dollars and Ethereum jumping over 9 percent over the last seven days to trade at 2,581 dollars, the time seems apt for many newbie investors to jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.But if regular trading in cryptocurrencies is not your cup of tea, then fret not! Price surges and falls are not the only way you can make money in this volatile market! Here are some unconventional and unheard ways you can make money without the pressure of trading. Take a look. 1. Staking

Remember how banks pay annual interest on your bank deposits? By simply having put aside your money in a bank account, you are guaranteed a regular interest income. Staking works similarly and essentially means keeping aside a certain number of coins or a financial stake, which promotes you to becoming a significant part of the network security infrastructure, which, in turn, means money! Now, there are two types of staking: Proof of Work (PoW):  The OG staking, involves solving complex mathematical puzzles, but since it needs enormous amounts of electricity, expensive mining infrastructure, is expensive to the environment, has limited scalability, and not to mention the slow transaction processing speed, an effective alternative was necessary. Proof of Stake (PoS): Does the same job but in an environment-friendly manner. Here, the staker supports a cryptocurrency by creating a block of the same on the blockchain. And since you’re an active node on the cryptocurrency’s structure, you get to earn via transaction fees and rewards for verifying such dealings. A prominent example is the Ethereum network, which is switching to the PoS model this month and offers ETH2 contract stakers to earn as much as 5.83 percent. However, look out for the lock-in period and the nature of cryptocurrency. When it comes to lock-in periods, you are at the risk of losing a portion of your money and automatically ruled out from gaining on tempting and profitable price dips and surges. It is not also unusual for some small alternative currencies to offer extremely high interest to lure in more customers to buy their coins. But consider the long-term prospects of such coins and choose ones that are well-known and reputable. You can also resort to cold staking, or storing your coins in a hardware wallet to avoid instances of cybersecurity breaches. Data indicates that a stake of 10 Ether currently means weekly earnings of 0.0075 ETH, almost equivalent to 17.96 dollars at current prices, and annual earnings of 0.3876 ETH which almost amounts to 933.69 dollars. Here are the top 10 by staked value coins you can consider :

Move over your conventional video games, it's time to play Axie Infinity! The insanely popular game allows the players to collect and breed Axies, or NFT (Non-fungible tokens) based creatures, along with the regular battling gung-ho! These Axies, which can be uniquely conjured from over 500 different body parts and 5 separate categories (aquatic, beast, bird, bug, plant, reptile) come in four rarity scales (common, rare, ultra-rare, and legendary), often distinguishing them prominently. Other such popular games include My Neighbour Alice, Sandbox, and more, which allow you to create virtual worlds and islands and trade digital assets as a game. For instance, My Neighbour Alice offers a fun narrative and combination of the gameplay experience and trading of NFTs. Players can earn up to 150-200 SLP (Smooth Love Potion) points, which can be exchanged for bigger cryptocurrencies or dollar-pegged coins. Currently valued at $0.2174, it offers players the potential to earn between 40-53 dollars per day! So, move over your trading fascinations and start making money in crypto, the unorthodox way.