Ben Simpson explains practical ways to earn income from cryptocurrency: (1) staking on proof-of-stake blockchains (Ethereum, Solana) for typical yields around 5–7% APY; (2) using DeFi lending protocols such as Aave to lend collateral and earn interest (commonly 5–8% and sometimes higher); (3) investing through platforms like Maple or Jupiter which can offer higher staking-like returns (Ben cites up to ~13%); and (4) simply holding crypto or stablecoins on centralized exchanges (Coinbase, Binance) to earn small yields. He warns against high advertised monthly returns from liquidity pools due to impermanent loss and loss of token exposure, advising to stick to core platforms.
Chapters
Here's how to earn income on your crypto the right way, including the pro tip at the end that you must follow to not lose all your money. Now the first one here is just staking on a proof of stake blockchain like Ethereum and Solana. You can earn a percentage yield just by staking and utilizing your crypto to secure the network. So you're essentially putting Ethereum or Solana or any other proof of stake blockchain. You're putting your crypto into that blockchain and you get paid a reward. Usually you can get up to 5, 6, 7% per annum. The next one is Defi. This is where you're actually utilizing your crypto into lending protocols so you can earn interest on the lending that goes on. AAVE is a perfect example of that. You can post collateral and that money is then being used to lend and you get fees again, 5, 6, 7, 8% sometimes on some DeFi platforms. You can even get up to 13% on some platforms staking I. E. Maple, this is an investment of mine. This is where you can actually again you can utilize some of your crypto to invest into some of these pools and get a reward. So Maple and a few other examples like Jupiter, you've also then got just simply holding your crypto on a centralized exchange like Coinbase. They will just pay you even by holding stable coins on Coinbase based Binance as well do this. You can just earn a percent literally just by holding your crypto on that platform. And my pro tip is not going into liquidity pools that have crazy high percentage promises. If you're seeing anywhere that's promising 5, 8, 10% per month, you're exposing yourself to something that's called impermanent loss. This is where you're not actually holding a token anymore. You're simply just getting paid fees for the swapping and trading of that liquidity pool. If that token or one of the tokens goes up in price, you actually don't have exposure to that token and you are going to get into this area that's called impermanent loss where you actually can't make make any of the exposure on the upside or downside. So just be careful. Don't get caught up into any of these false promises or like high returns. It doesn't exist. Make sure you stick to the core platforms and that is how you earn income on your crypto.
