7 offer guides
Crypto Bonuses, Promo Codes and Referral Rewards
Sign-up bonuses, no-deposit offers, promo codes, referral splits and cashback. This is the corner of crypto with the loudest headlines and the widest gap between the headline and the terms page. We read the terms.
CEX.IO is a licensed exchange — FinCEN-registered MSB (NMLS 1804170), money-transmitter licences in 34+ US states, a Gibraltar FSC DLT licence and CySEC authorisation in the EU. Bonus is trading-fee credit, not withdrawable cash — read the full terms first.
- What each bonus structure really pays
- A 60-second code verification routine
- Cashback compared on the same monthly spend
- The five tells of a harvesting funnel
Everything in bonuses
Start with sign-up bonuses if you are opening an account, or cashback if you already buy gift cards regularly.
Sign-up bonuses
Almost all of them are fee credit, not cash. This page shows what each structure is actually worth to you.
Read the guide → Reality checkNo-deposit offers
The most abused search phrase in crypto. We explain what is real and how the fake ones monetise you.
Read the guide →Promo codes
Most listed codes expired months ago. A 60-second verification routine beats any aggregator.
Read the guide →Referral codes
Read who gets paid and when. Half of these only trigger after a volume threshold you will never hit.
Read the guide →Cashback & rewards
A 3% rebate on a card sold at a 2% markup is a real 1% win. Here is where that maths works out.
Read the guide → Full termsCEX.IO bonus
Four tiers, fee credit only, 14 days to use it. We read the whole terms page so you know what you are opting into.
Read the guide →Free crypto
Seven routes that pay something real, with honest hourly rates. Most of them are worse than a part-time job.
Read the guide →The five bonus structures, and what each is worth to you
Once you can name the structure, the marketing stops working on you. There are only five in common use.
| Structure | What you receive | Withdrawable? | Real value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trading-fee credit | A balance usable only against fees | No | Equal to the fees you would have paid anyway — real, but capped by your activity |
| Deposit-triggered asset | A coin credited after you fund and hold | After conditions | Genuine, if you were going to deposit regardless |
| Learn and earn | A small amount of a specific token for completing a quiz | Usually yes | Small but real; often $3–$30 for twenty minutes |
| Referral split | A fee rebate shared between referrer and referee | Varies | Good when both sides get a rebate; worthless when it is volume-gated |
| Cashback / sats back | A percentage of spending returned in crypto | Yes | The best of the five, because it applies to spending you already do |
A worked example: the CEX.IO welcome bonus
We use this one throughout the site as the reference example, because it is unusually well-documented and it illustrates the fee-credit structure cleanly.
- First spot trade under $500 → 10 USDC in fee credit
- Over $500 → 50 USDC
- Over $5,000 → 200 USDC
- Over $50,000 → 1,000 USDC
The credit is non-withdrawable, usable only against spot trading fees, valid for 14 days after crediting, requires full identity verification, and excludes a specific list of countries including Belgium, Spain, the UK, China and the UAE. If the credit does not cover a trade's full fee, the remainder comes from your own balance.
That is a normal, honestly disclosed promotion. It is worth exactly the trading fees you were going to pay in the next fortnight — which for most people is a few dollars, not a thousand. Our full breakdown goes through the terms line by line, and the CEX.IO review covers the exchange itself, including its FinCEN registration (NMLS ID 1804170), its state money-transmitter licences, its Gibraltar FSC DLT licence and its CySEC authorisation.
Cashback is the only structure that compounds
If you buy gift cards with crypto regularly, cashback is where the real money is — and it is the one structure that gets better with time rather than expiring in fourteen days. Bitrefill pays 1–10% back in sats on selected products. Fold pays sats back on US gift-card purchases and card spending. eGifter runs a points programme. Crypto.com pays CRO-linked cashback tied to your staking tier.
The arithmetic that matters: a 3% rebate on a card sold at a 2% markup makes the purchase cheaper than paying in fiat. That is a genuine, repeatable edge on spending you were doing anyway. A 1% rebate on a card sold at a 5% markup is not — it is a discount on a bad price. We compare the live programmes on the same $500 of monthly spend in crypto cashback and rewards.
"Free crypto": what is real
The search volume around free crypto is enormous and mostly served by junk. Seven routes pay something real, and we list honest hourly rates for each in how to get free crypto: learn-and-earn programmes, testnet and bug-bounty work, faucets, genuine airdrops, referral splits, cashback, and occasional conference giveaways. Several of those pay less than minimum wage for the time involved, and we say so.
No-deposit bonuses is the companion page, and it is mostly a warning. The phrase "free crypto sign up bonus no deposit instant withdrawal" is the most abused string in this industry, and the sites ranking for it are overwhelmingly collecting email addresses, wallet addresses and identity documents rather than distributing money.
Five tells of a bonus that is not a bonus
- No named legal entity anywhere on the site, and no register entry you can check.
- A withdrawal that requires a "verification deposit" or a fee paid in advance. Real platforms never charge you to withdraw your own bonus.
- The bonus is denominated in a token that only trades on that platform.
- Terms that mention a trading-volume multiple — 20x, 40x — before withdrawal. That is casino wagering language in a financial context.
- Urgency in the copy: countdown timers, "only 12 spots left", a deadline that resets when you reload the page.
Our position on this section
Bonus content is where affiliate sites do their worst work, so it is worth being explicit. We link to a small number of offers. Some of those links may pay us. We describe the structure and the restrictions before the number, we state when a bonus is fee credit rather than cash, and we do not publish offers from platforms we cannot identify. If you think we have got one wrong, the contact page exists for exactly that.
Crypto bonuses: common questions
Is any crypto sign-up bonus actually free money?
Almost none. The overwhelming majority are trading-fee credit — they reduce what you pay to trade, and cannot be withdrawn. A smaller number pay a genuine asset after a qualifying deposit and a holding period. A few learn-and-earn programmes pay real tokens for completing quizzes. Anything advertising cash you can withdraw immediately with no deposit is either a token airdrop with conditions or a funnel collecting your details.
What is the catch with "no deposit, instant withdrawal" offers?
Usually one of four things: the amount is locked until you trade a multiple of it, the withdrawal requires full verification you have not completed, the "crypto" is an illiquid platform token, or the site is not a real exchange at all. We break the patterns down in no-deposit crypto bonuses.
How do I verify a promo code before using it?
Open the exchange's own promotions page and check the code appears there. If it only exists on aggregator sites, assume it expired. Then read the terms for the three things that matter: what triggers the payout, when it expires, and whether your country is excluded. Sixty seconds, and it saves the disappointment. Method in crypto promo codes.
Are referral codes worth using?
Sometimes. The good ones split a real fee rebate between both parties. The bad ones pay the referrer only after you hit a trading-volume threshold you will never reach, which means the person sharing it gets nothing and you got no discount either. Read who gets paid and when — see referral codes explained.
Is bonus crypto taxable?
Frequently yes, and this surprises people. In many jurisdictions, tokens received from a promotion, referral or learn-and-earn programme are income at fair market value on the day you receive them, with a new cost basis from that point. Fee credit is generally not income because you never own an asset. Rules differ by country and this is not tax advice — but keep the records.