A guide for those who earn small amounts of crypto through tasks, surveys, and other ways to earn small amounts of crypto, and who, through their work in earning crypto, have found themselves holders of small amounts of crypto.

Disclaimer: Note that gambling with crypto involves risk and you must not gamble with funds you can’t afford to lose. All platforms and casinos referenced in this article are 18+ only. Please gamble responsibly and check your local laws before signing up for any crypto gambling sites.

Why Network Fees Matter More When Your Balance Is Small

A fixed fee is a percentage of the transaction (e.g. $2.00 + 1.5% of transaction amount). As you can see, this type of fee can actually end up being quite expensive for small transactions (e.g. a few dollars), although this will not be noticeable for larger transactions (e.g. $100 or more).

Because of congestion on a network, transaction fees can vary greatly from day to day. Because of this, what seems like a cheap transaction to send in one day, can end up being very expensive the next day.

Each blockchain was designed with a different goal in mind. While some have prioritized security and the finality of a transaction, they haven’t made an effort to complete a low-cost microtransaction. Therefore, some blockchains are not suitable for small amounts of crypto that you have earned through faucets, for example.

Consolidating small balances as well costs money. If you have several small balances in different wallets, you will have to move each of them to a single wallet. This can trigger several fees, sometimes even erasing a big part of your earnings.

Remember, when trying to decide where to spend your earnings in crypto, the way you earned them doesn’t matter, so long as you received the same type of crypto. This is because while some types of crypto can be cheap to receive (because of the low transaction fees), others aren’t as cheap to spend in each of the different platforms that accept each of the different types of cryptocurrencies.

Why do people not consider the network fee? The reason for this must be that in isolation each fee seems too small to matter. However, as soon as you try to move a small balance the full impact of the fees is revealed.

Where Bitcoin Cash Fits Into This

For those not aware, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) focuses on a very specific design priority: to keep transaction fees very low and predictable, even when the rest of the network is very congested. This is in large part due to BCH’s larger block size, typically greater than 32MB, compared to other competing cryptocurrencies that use much smaller blocks, usually less than 1MB. For those managing to earn to spend very small amounts of Bitcoin, for example the reward of completing a faucet of Bitcoin, in large part BCH is the low fee design priority of BCH’s very much in their favor.

It is when you are trying to spend a balance rather than hold it that the advantage of Bitcoin Cash comes to the fore. The fee structure on a smaller number of transactions makes for an ideal set of circumstances for a number of platforms, and gaming platforms are one place where this shows up clearly. For readers curious where BCH is actually accepted for that kind of spending, this list it of Bitcoin Cash-friendly casinos is a useful reference point for seeing how widely the coin has actually been adopted.

How to Decide Where to Spend Small Crypto Earnings

1. Check the current network fee before you move your balances. These can change within the day.
2. Does the platform you want to deposit into support the coin you received (in addition to possibly accepting to receive a different coin in its place)?
3. Consolidate small balances for a tap only when the total amount (after the consolidation) is worth the transfer fee.
4. How to withdraw funds from a platform. This is as important as how you deposit your funds in the first place.
5. Responsible Management: If low transaction costs of a certain coin make it attractive for a casino to accept that coin, treat all corresponding casino sites as you would treat a site accepting higher transaction costs coins. (Also refer to 6.)

None of these steps take long to complete. For reasons yet to be determined, few people bother to run through these steps before moving a balance they worked hard to earn.

What This Teaches About Managing Any Small-Balance Asset

So long as you are dealing with small balances of assets of any kind, it is crucial to manage those balances with the understanding that moving or converting those balances can cost a lot in terms of the value of what you worked for. This article helped illustrate the various ways in which this can happen, all to end with the simple reminder that, checking the fee for a transaction before you complete it is as easy a habit to get into as any.

In summary, the coin you receive in a faucet can be far from the ideal way to hold on to that for long, yet it’s good enough for small transfers. Understanding the costs of different coins in terms of transaction fees and other charges will help you decide how to hold on to your balance and when to transfer it to a different coin for spending. This will help you to spend your earnings responsibly and get the most out of your efforts.

Responsible Gambling

For the platforms we reference in this article, the reader should note that they support a range of responsible practices, including setting a deposit limit, imposing a loss limit, or even withholding access to prevent problem gaming. There are also a number of confidential support organizations which can assist problem gamblers. Importantly, though a coin’s low transaction fees may make for cheap gaming, that coin does not necessarily imply cheap risk. Only gamble with money you can afford to lose.