Overview
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The easiest way to acquire some ether (ETH) is to use an exchange,
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Some cryptocurrency ATMs also offer ETH,
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Trading cryptocurrencies can be a good way to earn ether,
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Mine some profitable altcoins and convert it into ETH,
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Use your skills to sell your goods/services for ETH,
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Faucets, and
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Lend your ETH to earn a small return.
Exchanges
One of the easiest ways of getting ether is by buying it on exchanges. You can transfer fiat currency or cryptocurrencies to exchange it for ether. It may require you to submit identity documents and personal information.
If you are dedicated and can invest time and money, you could also turn your hand to trading to generate a full-time income, paid in ether. By trading cryptocurrencies on leverage or by trading altcoins in spot markets, it is possible to earn more ether.
However, becoming a profitable trader requires a lot of dedication, experience, and knowledge.
Over the Counter and Cryptocurrency ATMs
You can also buy ETH over the counter (OTC), from online vendors (such as LiteBit) or from cryptocurrency ATMs. Compared to exchanges, buying OTC or from online vendors and cryptocurrency ATMs have their own trade-offs in terms of price, speed, or security.
While cryptocurrency ATMs may be convenient to those in the city, they are more expensive than exchanges and out of reach for people who do not lie in large cities. OTC markets and online vendors also sell ether at higher prices than exchanges.
Crypto Mining
While Ethereum mining is moving into the hands of specialist enterprises and unprofitable for the hobbyist miner, you could mine other Proof of Work coins and convert some proceeds to ether.
‘Spec mining’, short for speculation mining, is a way you can make a profit in mining, which involves monitoring new Proof of Work coin announcements on BitcoinTalk and mining the coin at a very early stage. If you believe the fundamentals of a project are good, then you have a chance of turning a good profit, which you can then exchange for ETH.
As a Payment for Goods or Services
If you run a business, you can use payment processors such as BitPay, CoinPayments, and CoinGate to accept ether. Business owners should run a full node for more security and use it as a wallet for payments.
Similarly, if you work as a freelancer, you can use an ETH wallet to get paid for your services. Ethlance is a platform that pays exclusively in ETH. Content creators may generate earnings in ETH through the Brave browser (converting the native BAT to ETH), the social media platform Cent, and publishing platforms like Steemit and Publish0x.
You can find jobs that pay in bitcoin/cryptocurrency by using:
Even if you are not a business owner and work a 9-5, you can use Bitwage to get any proportion that you want of your monthly pay in ether.
Faucets
Faucets dispense small amounts of free ETH for visiting a website of doing a microtask. A list of all ether faucets can be found here.
Lending Ether
You can also lend your ether to various crypto interest accounts and earn a small return. There are also several applications built on top of Ethereum to provide a credit market, such as Compound and Aave