This is a summary of my crypto earnings during January, along with simple analysis and then my plan for February.

The table above summarises the monthly position.  The rows are sorted with the top earner at the top, and worst at the bottom.  I've added in Dec and Nov columns to give a comparison across months.  The change column at the end shows the change from Dec to Jan.  Cells in green show monthly earnings above $10, those in yellow are up to $10, and those in red earned zero.  If a cell is blank its because I wasnt using that method at that point.

My target for Jan was to hit $200+ for the month, so I'm quite happy that I hit it.  At $234.38 it was another good month on month increase, from the Dec 21 figure ($234.38) - nearly double.  The biggest earner and difference from Dec was my blogging earnings on Hive Blog.  I was lucky with a few posts and got a decent income, although I think achieving $100 each month from Hive Blog is not overly unrealistic as long as I'm taking the time to create quality posts (my best earners on Hive Blog are travel related).   

It was quite a topsy-turvy month as a number of methods that did well previously, didnt fair so well in Jan - some of that was down to the general lower value of crypto affecting methods that earn relative to crypto values (eg, Nicehash mining and KuCoin trading bots).

I have to say I'm pretty happy with the monthly value, especially noting the change since November.  I aim to keep improving, and its clear that to make big gains I'll probably have to seek out some new methods that provide good income.

Individual commentary, from best to worst earnings, as follows:

- Hive - $120.85 - Mostly from blogging on Hive Blog.  I'm still new to the Hive Blockchain and it seems to have incredible opportunity, so I'm continuing to explore it.  It also provides decent interest (12%) for HBD (Hive Backed Dollars) held in savings in the Hive Wallet - so thats a nice passive income to focus on, adn with HBD being soft pegged, you dont have to worry to much about loosing value in what you are hodling.  There are also other Hive apps I've yet to explore - so I still have room from improvement.  Anyway, if you are keen on accumulating crypto without spending, then Hive is a great place to start.

- Rising Star - $35.77 - Is a play2earn music based trading card game on the Hive Blockchain.  I love playing it, I think they nailed the gameplay and it does not take a lot of time.  I was very happy with the earnings, which has increased significantly due to my understanding of the game.  I'm also now learning how to trade the NFTs from the game better, which is also making a difference.  I can easily see my monthly earnings getting to the $100, so it will be a key focus for me going forward.  However, its also just a great game, and has a great community with lots of giveaways which can really help when you are starting out - very much worth checking out if play2earn is your thing.

 - Torum - $19.92 - Torum is a social media site with a crypto focus that provides rewards in XTM.  I'm beginning to understand Torum better having only started using it in Dec.  It works, and seems to provide a steady supply of XTM, for not a huge amount of time input, so I'm pretty happy continuing to use it for now.  The price of XTM is currently fairly low, as with the general crypto dip, so $19.92 for the month is probably low for Torum.

- Nicehash - $17.57 -  I have a basic mining setup with two small GPUs which I mine on using Nicehash, using solar power during the day - I'm happy with what it does and I switch its earnings into passive methods which is handy, but I'd need to outlay around $400 to upgrade further, which I'll hold off on doing for the moment.  Its earnings are down in Jan because it pays out in BTC.  So at the moment I'm just hodling that BTC in Nicehash until the price recovers and will probably send it to Nexo where I'll change it for something with a high interest rate for some passive gains and long term hodling.

- Storm Gain - $7.86 - A cloud mining app on Android.  You click a button every 4 hours to earn some crypto, and then you can start trading with it on the app once you have accumulated $10.  I only started using this in Dec and have not yet got to the $10 to allow me to start trading, but am close now.  It takes zero time (a whole 2 mins a day), and I can see that long term I can begin to accumulate a bit if I can be careful with my trades, so for the moment I'm pretty happy with Storm Gain.

 - Young Step - $7.84 - Young Step is an android app when you can earn YNG for steps, crypto predictions and from quizzes based on crypto currency topics.  You can then withdraw that to the Young Platform (invite code: JOHN-5300) for trading.  I quite like the app, and particularly the educational part which I've found very useful - they provide lots of articles on crypto, which has really helped my understanding of crypto in general and also of particular projects.  The only thing is that I finally got to the value where I should be able to withdraw the earnings to the Young Platform for trading, and I just cant get the withdrawal to work which is rather disappointing.  I'll keep trying over Feb, but if I cant get it to work, then I will drop the app.

- Coinbase Learn & Earn - $7 - I really like Coinbase and particularly the learn and earn function.  There was not many offers on learn and earn this month, however, when you do get them, they are quick to complete and pay out straight away - whats not to like.

- KuCoin Trade Bots - $3.66 - I'd invested some money into KuCoin spot grid trade bots which provide income from micro-trades (and floating crypto gains).  Unfortunately I bought into them when BTC was doing well, so I'll now have to hold on until the market recovers - but I'm ok with that and they are continuing to make some microtrades.  Jan was pretty tough though and quite a few of them bottomed out (hence not making any micro trades) - however, I just need to hold on until prices return, which I'm confident they will.

- Crypto Sense - $2.17 - Is an android app where you get rewarded for watching videos.  It withdraws straight to Coinbase which is great, but you have to do a lot to get earnings, however, I find I can do it at the same time as say watching TV without it breaking my concentration - so no problem.  Its useful now while I'm building up my crypto, but I probably wont use it in the long run, and you can see that I used it less in Jan - but I'm still popping it on now and again, and probably will continue to do that but less frequently for some odd minor gains.  I've written a more dedicated post on how it works (Crypto Sense App Test - earning free crypto on your android phone).  

 - Brave Browser - $2.10 - Earn BAT by browsing.  This was a no brainer for me - I'm using a browser regularly anyway, so I just started using Brave as much as I could instead.  You can build up BAT and then it gets paid monthly to another wallet.  I'm using Gemini, within which I can then trade it for other cryptos.   My earnings dropped in Jan, however, I'm not really doing anything differently to earn it, so am happy to keep using it, plus I like the browser generally - so this method will be staying long term.

- Splinterlands - $2.04 - Splinterlands is another Hive Blockchain play2earn game.  It is a very popular card trading/fighting game.  I'm still new to it and have a lot to learn, but my earnings are increasing slowly.  However some people seem to earn hundreds of dollars from it monthly, so there is definite opportunity in this game.  So this is a method I need to explore further.

- 'Hive Other' - $1.81 -  Hive gives out payments of other Hive crypto currencies depending on how you use its apps, eg, tagging #Leofinance to a blog post can earn you Leofinance crypto !  So I'm also accumulating small amounts of a number of other cryptos on Hive.  Its hard to tell how much so this is a rough estimate.  At the moment I'm just staking them, and will begin to explore them further as they build up - but I get gains every single day, and much of the time I'm not even sure why ! 

- PublishOx - $1.70 -  Not massive, but I really do like PublishOx, and I get some great tips from other bloggers on this site, so I'm going to continue using it for the foreseeable future - also I think the interface is really nice and easy to use which helps.

- Google Survey Rewards - $1.68 - An android app where you take short surveys and get rewarded in $.  Not tried withdrawing yet, and it might be that you can only use it in the Google store - but will see how it goes.  Either way the surveys are very short and just come from Google so its pretty simple and easy to use, without then getting spammed for providing email addresses, etc to all and sundry via info harvesting surveys.  I've also heard that you can use the earnings on Splinterlands which will be useful.

 - Bitcoin Mania - $1.08 - A play2earn mining simulator game.  Its rather boring and the earnings are quite low unless you invest, and I dont think I'll be doing that, so I cant see that I'll be using it long term. 

- Rollercoin - $0.65 - Another play2earn game, which is a crypto mining simulator.  I did like it at first but am finding that it takes up too much time, so I have backed off using it so much.  Earnings would improve with some investment, but I'm not sure that I want to keep using it long term yet.  I've written more about it in another post (Rollercoin - free-2-earn crypto game - season 3 - earn free crypto).

- Cake Defi Staking (referral code 877089) - $0.55 - Is a staking site, where you can stake DFI.  I like it because its really simple, but swings in the value of DFI could be a considerable risk.  It was at a lowish price recently so I've bought some more DFI to earn more rewards and am currently getting around 38% APR, hence the increase is income.  Its low, but its passive, and I can just ignore it and let it grow, and even dump in a little extra cash now and again from Nicehash mining earnings when the price of DFI is low to help it grow further.   So at the moment I'll keep using it as I like the APR.   I've written a more detailed post on this (Staking free crypto with Cake Defi). 

 - Simplebits - $0.10 - Is another mining simulator.  The interface is quite cool, and I quite liked using it, as you can see how it can grow, but it does take a fair bit of effort, and for the effort I've put it, its just not growing quick enough, so I'll probably be dropping it.

 - Coinbirds - $0.0237 (!) - This is a simple online game where you buy birds, which lay eggs, which you sell and can then withdraw to things like PayPal.  The earnings are low, but it takes zero time, and for some reason I really like it.  Also, I can see how the earnings compound, so I'm keen to keep trying it to see how it grows.  

- Noise.Cash - $0.00 - Is another social media/blogging site that provides crypto rewards.  I know that there are others who do very well out of it, but at the moment I'm concentrating on Hive, Torum and PublishOx, so have stopped using it for the meantime.

 - Mistplay - $0.00 - Android app - earn rewards for playing games - can convert the rewards for things like prepaid mastercards.  I have earned credits during Jan, (probably around $6 worth), but I didnt withdraw any.  I'm still using it as I can use the prepaid mastercards that I can get from it to invest in Splinterlands - and will probably withdraw $10 or $15 in Feb to do just that.

 - CryptoBrewMaster - $0.00 - Is 'play2earn' game, also on the Hive blockchain where you brew beer, sell it, etc.  I'm still using it and getting ingredients to make beer, but I just dont really know how to play the game !  So its on my to-do list, and I'll figure out whether I can make anything from it or not - there is just not much info around on how to use it (maybe theres a gap in the blog market for it that I need to fill !).  

- Dr Who - Worlds Apart - $0.00 - Is a card trading game based on the cult BBC Dr Who TV series.  They have recently released the game, but I havent had time to check it out, but by simply singing in each day you can get free tokens which you can save to buy cards, the referral link also gives bonus tokens which can start you off.  There appears to be a healthy market for the cards with real money changing hands, so I'm accumulating tokens, and will see if anything comes of it.

- Nexo - $0.00 - Nexo is a crypto site that offer passive earnings (interest) for holding your crypto with them.  I really like it but withdrew my crypto from it to fund the KuCoin trading Bots, however, I will start to Hodl within Nexo again, because you can basically get decent daily compound interest rates on your crypto (normally up to around 20% but they have an offer on just now which is around 36% on AXS !), plus it seems like a good legit, safe and secure site.   I've written a post specifically about Nexo (Earn interest on crypto with Nexo for passive gains).

 - KuCoin Staking - $0.00 - I've not used this KuCoin function yet, but plan to investigate it once my crypto funds build up a little - so this one is for the future.  

- Coinbase Interest - $0.00 -  Coinbase offers up to 5% interest on some coins (including ALGO, TEZOS and COSMOS).  I have earned from it before with ALGO, but dont have any in there at the moment.  I can see that I will use it again, also noting that it offers daily compound interest which I do like.

- Gemini earn - $0.00 - Is a function that Gemini offers in some countries, but not in mine (UK) yet.  I'm hoping they will offer it soon noting that I'm earning BAT with Brave Browser which I can withdraw into Gemini - so would be good if I could do that and then earn interest on it.

 - Pi - $0.00 - Which is an odd app you can download on your mobile phone to 'generate Pi'.  A lot of people seem into it, but I'm not convinced that anything will come from it, and latterly my app hasn't been working all the time, so I'll probably be dropping it at some point soon.

Plan for February:

 - To keep working on Hive and Rising Star in particular as they are good earners.  I will also work on Splinterlands because of the potential it offers.

 - Torum is giving a nice steady income, so thats a keeper too. 

 - Where I can I will keep funneling crypto earnings into passive income generators (Hive wallet and Nexo particularly).  

 - I'll be dropping some of the lower earners that are burning too much effort for little reward (eg, Simplebits).

 - I probably should investigate some new methods that have good potential, but feel like I'll be busy enough working on and developing what I'm already stuck into.

 - I'll be aiming to hit the $300+ mark on earnings, which might be tough-ish, but all it will take is one or two good posts on Hive Blog, and I've already started with a couple of decent ones that will payout in early Feb.