From steaking to AI trading: promising ways to make money from cryptocurrency in 2025

With high volatility in the crypto market, many investors are starting to look for more stable sources of income. Passive ways of earning money are becoming more and more popular, and in this article we will look at several relevant options: steaking, restaking, farming and copytrading.

Steaking

Staking is one of the most popular methods of income generation available to users of both centralized crypto exchanges (CEX) and decentralized financial protocols (DeFi).

Stacking requires ownership of native blockchain tokens with a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism, such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) or Toncoin (TON). In return for blocking their assets, users are rewarded for participating in transaction verification. Depending on the network, the process may require blockchain coins for a certain period of time, as well as having a minimum investment. Ethereum staking requires 32 ETH, although a lower minimum amount may be introduced in the future.

In addition, liquid staking, offered by platforms such as Lido, comes to the rescue, allowing users to block any amount of ETH and receive tokens (such as stETH) that can be used on other DeFi markets.

Restacking

Restaking is a newer way of generating passive income introduced by the EigenLayer protocol. The idea is that ETHs that are already participating in steaking are used to secure other crypto-protocols. In return, users receive rewards from these transactions. As of October 2024, the total amount of blocked funds (TVL) on the EigenLayer platform exceeded $11 billion.

Farming

Farming (or income farming) allows earning money from cryptocurrencies by participating in providing liquidity in DeFi protocols. However, this comes with certain risks, such as vulnerabilities in smart contracts, falling token prices and possible fraud. To minimize risks, it is important to choose trusted platforms, such as large exchanges that regularly hold promotions and distribute tokens of new projects among users who have locked assets in their accounts.

Copytrading

For those who do not want to delve into the intricacies of working with DeFi protocols or take risks in restaking, there is an alternative – copytrading. In this strategy, users copy trades of successful traders. However, it is worth considering that even experienced traders can suffer losses during periods of market instability. In addition, copy-trading is usually charged a commission on the profit gained from copying trades.

Conclusions

We have considered several popular methods of passive earnings in the cryptocurrency markets. While earlier mining and validator maintenance required significant investments in equipment, steaking and other methods of passive income are becoming available even to those who are not ready to spend large sums on buying expensive equipment. These methods require less investment, but still involve certain risks, and it is important to carefully evaluate all conditions before making a decision.