Seedly, a leading fintech firm in Singapore, posed this question on its forum: What is one piece of advice you would give to people not investing in crypto? (See thumbnail.)

This was a nice introspective question that got me reminisce about my journey in crypto, including finding a second home in Publish0x. After savoring my memories for a bit, I typed the following answer:

It may scare the hell out of you to dabble in crypto, but do know that there are ways to get crypto for free so that you can ease your way into this world.

I first ventured into crypto when the social media manager of Hodlnaut emailed me, explaining that he had loved my finance blog and thought that I would be a good fit for its affiliate program. I knew nothing about Bitcoin and Ethereum then but his offer galvanized me to figure out how to convert my BAT tokens to ETH so that I could set up an account.

Following that, I wrote an article on Seedly to detail how I leveraged the passive income I had painstakingly gained from using the Brave Browser to make my first foray into crypto - without forking out a single cent. I even titled the article “How Gen X Uncle Ventured Into Crypto”. I guess my unique perspective worked, for this article went viral. 10 people signed for my affiliate link. Since Hodlnaut pays users 10% of their referees' weekly interest every week, this means that I receive commission crypto income every Monday.

Opening up a Hodlnaut account led me to Publish0x as the company has a blog over there. As a writing enthusiast, I saw the opportunity that Publish0x presented and was soon blogging every other day. I was lucky enough to be one of the winners for the UplandCity contest that Publish0x organized, so I won $20 worth of ETH through this writing contest in my first month. Of course, I am aware that I cannot be winning contests every month but I am contented to continue blogging because every day, I am working towards accumulating more crypto.

Speaking of winning, I won another $20 worth of ETH. But this time, I won it by doing a survey "The State of Crypto In Singapore" that was organized by Gemini Exchange and Seedly. I tried to be creative for the last question that asked why I should be awarded with $20 ETH - and luckily succeeded. 

Winning the ETH giveaway from Gemini required me to set up a Gemini account. So guess what I did? I posted my referral link on my Facebook page, extolling the virtues of Gemini. Since then, two friends have used my referral link to set up accounts themselves. Gemini gives users $10 worth of Bitcoin as a referral credit when their referees buy or sell $100 worth of BTC, so I got referral credit two times! My first referral credit was immediately channeled into the Gemini Earn program so that I could let it grow by staking. As for the second referral credit, I cashed it out and deposited it into my retirement fund - it's important to take a break and celebrate the minor successes!

So there you have it. I am building up my crypto portfolio without forking out money from my pocket yet. These ways include: 

1) surfing the Internet via the Brave Browser

2) getting commission income from Hodlnaut

3) blogging with Publish0x

4) winning giveaway contests

5) getting referral credit from Gemini

6) staking my assets with Gemini

As Lao Tzu said, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." You can see how my efforts snowballed after I made the simple decision to get hold of BAT tokens by using the Brave Browser. Hence, I feel that the crypto world isn't necessarily as volatile and scary as it is often made out to be. Keep calm and just step out first. The rest will take care of itself.