Bitcoin was the first alternative currency to be introduced to the finance market that is entirely virtual, truly independent, and global.
It’s an industry that combines technology with investing and the model has proven attractive among millennials.
Statistics from Blockchain.com, (a platform that provides non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets) shows an upward trend of wallets being created.
Currently, over 48 million wallets have been opened.
This list of bitcoin affiliate programs focuses as much on “Bitcoin” maximalism as possible. You can use this companion list of crypto exchange affiliate programs in addition to the list below.
When you consider the combined market size for finance, saving, investing and technology, there’s potential for billions of users.
Despite bitcoin having been around for over a decade, it very much is still in its infancy. The technology and the currency have proven effective, trustworthy and there’s plenty of opportunities to get involved by partnering with established brands that are already trusted by thousands of users.
Like every financial market, bitcoin prices fluctuate and despite market capitalization having peaked around 2017, by 2019, a quarter of Americans were still unfamiliar about what bitcoin is, how the blockchain works, let alone how to open a bitcoin wallet.
A super-easy way to make a start promoting bitcoin is to enter it from another niche by looking at your current partners, or potential ones, that accepts bitcoin payments. Gambling sites are one example where you could easily add a category for bitcoin casinos.
You could also use Spendabit.co which is a retail search engine for people to spend bitcoin and that can be paired with Lolli.com, a bitcoin cashback website. Pairing the two could go down well on a blog about saving money, couponing, or cashback sites.
Some users are drawn to bitcoin for its semi-anonymity. Transactions aren’t completely untraceable, however, to find them, someone has to go looking, which isn’t the easiest task.
This makes it appealing for buying items that some people prefer to keep off their bank statements. Think of adult-related purchases and subscriptions such as VPN services.
While bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrencies can be technical, it doesn’t take tech know-how to start a business in the bitcoin industry.
Bitcoin affiliate programs provide plenty of business opportunities for non-technical publishers to build an information empire, create communities of investors, and/or educate consumers on how to make the most of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Another advantage for those in the e-commerce space is the lower transactional costs of accepting bitcoin. Credit card processing fees eat into overheads. Bitcoin can lower those costs, sometimes to under 1%.
Reduced overheads and the semi-anonymous nature of bitcoin has seen some merchants in the cannabis industry start accepting bitcoin payments. (Seedman is one example)
Bitcoin Affiliate Website Ideas
- Build a review site focusing on the various bitcoin exchanges.
- Review and compare bitcoin wallets.
- Bitcoin mining affiliate programs for cloud-mining services can be another monetization option, as could showing people how to build mining rigs, save energy, and supply the parts miners need. (None of those are covered here as bitcoin exchanges and training is more profitable).
- If you have a finance website, Bitcoin exchanges and CFD Trading platforms for bitcoin is another category you could include in your website, or devote a niche website to CFD trading in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
- Using bitcoin affiliate programs is easiest done, like many others, by focusing on an information publishing business model. This can take many routes including releasing books on marketplaces, building courses, providing video lessons on YouTube and podcast shows all of which can serve to build your email list and then be monetized by a variety of bitcoin affiliate programs.
- Bitcoin casinos are another niche that can be a standalone website or integrated into a larger gambling affiliate website.
12 Bitcoin Affiliate Programs
- Local Bitcoins
- Paxful
- xCoins.io
- LakeBTC
- AvaTrade
- Coinmate
- Ledger Wallet
- Coinsfer
- Trezor
- Coin Corner
- Bit Panda
- Luno
1. Local Bitcoins
Local Bitcoins is a peer-to-peer or person to person (P2P) bitcoin exchange based in Helsinki, Finland and it’s registered with the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority.
The platform accepts all fiat currencies so no matter where someone is based, they can use their local currency to buy bitcoins and the process couldn’t be easier.
Sellers list the price they want and if a buyer likes the price, they check the seller ratings and begin discussions to make the trade.
Local Bitcoins pay affiliates up to 40% commission of the trading fees they earn from registered users – 20% of the buyer fee transactions with the other 20% fees paid for referring sellers.
Payments are made daily in BTC directly to your LocalBitcoins wallet so you will need to have an account with them to use the affiliate program.
The cookie window is 90-days from registration making it advantageous to include in a bitcoin training course that walks people through opening an account, discussing strategies to spot good prices and then showing them how to buy bitcoins on the site for the best price.
As an added bonus, once your referral starts trading, within that first three-months from your affiliate link being clicked, you’ll then earn the 20% commission for the first year.
Sign up to the LocalBitcoins.com affiliate program here.
2. Paxful
Paxful is another person-to-person bitcoin exchange service. They are a young fintech startup (est. 2015) based in the U.S. One of the main differences between the localbitcoins.com exchange and Paxful is the number of payment options offered.
Paxful is suited to those who want to pay with traditional payment methods including debit and credit card as well as PayPal.
For those just getting started, Paxful can be a lower cost bitcoin exchange, depending on the payment method being used. Using PayPal or credit card does pose a risk of chargebacks, which can put PayPal accounts at risk.
For sellers on Paxful, the transaction fee is just 1%, however, as it is a P2P marketplace, sellers set their own fees, which will be higher where the payment method used can be reversed.
Paxful runs a 2-tier affiliate program. On the first tier, affiliates are paid 50% commission of the standard Escrow transaction fees. Those are calculated at 1%, regardless of what the seller sets their fees at. The 2nd tier pays 10% of your referrals commissions.
The affiliate program only pays commissions on buyer fees. If you plan on referring sellers to the platform, they ask you to contact their support team.
The affiliate program is open to all their members. Commissions earned are paid into your affiliate wallet and you’ll then need to transfer your earnings to your Paxful trading wallet once you’ve reached a balance of $10. These can be cashed out or sold.
Sign up for the Paxful affiliate program here.
3. xCoins.io
There are two xCoins websites – xCoins.com and xCoins.io – and both run a bitcoin affiliate program. The one being discussed here is xCoins.io which is a P2P bitcoin lending platform.
xCoins.io is an intermediary service that matches bitcoin holders to borrowers or lenders. Those with bitcoin can sign up here for free as a lender and set their own interest rate of at least 15%.
The xCoins service lets lenders deposit bitcoin into their xCoins wallet. When someone wants to apply for a bitcoin loan, the service does the verification checks and matches borrowers with lenders to make arrangements for the loan.
In some instances, it can be easier to get a bitcoin loan as it’s a person to person transaction, rather than based on traditional credit scores used by mainstream lenders.
The transaction fees are higher than most as they start at 5%, and it’s that transaction fee affiliates earn the commission on.
The xCoins.io affiliate program is 2-tier and pays up to 50% commission of their transaction fees for life. You can refer both borrowers and lenders too.
Should your referrals refer others, the 2nd tier commissions pay a 3% lifetime commission. Earnings are paid to your xCoins wallet and can be cashed out or if you’re interested in lending, you could also use your commissions to fund loans so you can earn interest too.
Sign up for the xCoins.io bitcoin loan affiliate program here.
4. LakeBTC
The name LakeBTC stands for Lake Banking Technology Company. The exchange was founded in 2013 mainly serving professional investors who were early adopters of bitcoin.
To date, this is the only exchange to have a professional risk management and control system in place and runs the exchange like a financial institution rather than a technology platform to enable trading.
LakeBTC has an easy-to-use interface making it easy for newcomers to get started, but it’s also a platform for high net worth clients and those who need or prefer a higher level of security to protect their investments in digital currencies.
Currently, the platform provides trading services for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, accepts all fiat currencies and provides a secure wallet.
The affiliate program is 3-tier and pays commissions based on the trading transfer fees generated from your referrals.
- Tier 1 pays 30% commission
- Tier 2 pays 10% commission
- Tier 3 pays 5% commission
All commissions are lifetime and payouts are made monthly.
Sign up for the LakeBTC referral program here.
5. AvaTrade
Avatrade is an online broker platform best known for Forex trading, however, they have also moved with the times by being an early adopter to introduce bitcoin trading and they’ve now expanded further to include Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum.
The main countries Avatrade.com serve are those in the EU, the British Virgin Islands, Japan, South Africa and Australia.
The platform offers support in 14 languages and has won the “most regulated broker” award, making them an easy referral for anyone who needs (or would prefer) a broker with a high level of trust.
Watch the video overview that shows the range of investments besides bitcoin you can earn commissions on with Avatrade.com…
For bitcoin affiliates, the main service will be the bitcoin CFD (Contracts for Difference) trading where users can buy (go long) and sell (go short) on bitcoin trades.
For those unfamiliar with FOREX, and CFD trading, you aren’t involved in buying or selling bitcoin but instead placing a spread bet on the value of bitcoin increasing or decreasing against another currency, either fiat or cryptocurrency.
Avapartner.com is where to sign up as an Avatrade affiliate. When you do, you can discuss your preference for payments with an affiliate manager, which can be up to $250 for each referral who opens an account and starts trading.
The other option is revenue share that pays up to a 10% lifetime recurring commission on the trading fees the platform generates from your referrals.
The cookies are set to lifetime, marketing materials are provided as is an affiliate manager and they pay affiliates monthly on the 15th of each month by wire transfer.
Become an affiliate of Avatrade.com through the Avapartner website here.
6. Coinmate
Coinmate.io is an entry-level European bitcoin exchange that supports fiat currency deposits of Euro, (EUR), the Czech Koruna (CZK), and the Polish Zloty (PLN).
In addition to buying and selling bitcoin, a few other cryptocurrencies are available including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP).
The company was founded in 2014 and is registered in the UK, but it’s core focus is on EU countries, mainly Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The platform supports each of those languages too.
The exchange fees are in line with most exchanges using a maker and taker fee model, which is just a way to distinguish the person providing liquidity to the platform. Those who place orders are the makers and those to fulfil the orders are the takers.
The transaction fees are based on trading volume. Maker fees range between 0.02% and 0.12% and the taker fee ranges between 0.05% to 0.25%. Affiliates earn 50% of those fees and are paid instantly to the Coinmate.io account where it can then be used for trading or cashed out.
The referral program is open to anyone with a coinmate.io account.
Once registered, visit the referrals section to get your affiliate ID and start promoting.
The team can also provide banners on request. Given there’s little information published about the affiliate program, if you have questions, send an email to business[at]coinmate.io. The head of marketing is Simon Vrsansky – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonvrsansky
2020 Updates:
1) Czech-based Fio bank was the business banking partner for Coinmate. They terminated their accounts with effect from March 2020.
Given the company is registered in the UK, they are being affected by the Brexit situation and the health pandemic so fiat deposits are currently unavailable until they establish a new banking partner. This isn’t unusual for bitcoin businesses. Just really unfortunate timing.
2) Additional cryptocurrencies added include the DASH altcoin and Ethereum (ETH).
Open an account with coinmate.io to join the referral program.
7. Ledger Wallet
Ledger was founded in 2014 after raising over $85 million in funding. They’ve gone on to become an industry leader in bitcoin and cryptocurrency secure storage with their hardware wallets available in 165 countries.
Different wallets are available depending on the number of coins you need to store, which is directly related to the amount of memory the wallet will need to handle.
Once your virtual currencies are stored in your wallet, you can then use the Ledger Live software to access, review, spend and buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies securely.
The Ledger affiliate program pays a 10% commission on all product sales. They pay affiliates in bitcoin so you’ll need to provide an email and your bitcoin address to receive payments, which are paid monthly.
Once signed up, you’ll get access to their promotional material and they have a dedicated support team for affiliates.
Sign up for the ledger affiliate program here.
8. Coinsfer
Coinsfer is a shopping service that’s registered as Infinite Schema LLC, based in Florida.
The service is for international shoppers to buy items from stores that only ship to the U.S. or only accept card payments from U.S. residents.
Essentially what they do is combine a shipping service with a U.S. credit card payment service. Users pay for items in bitcoin and the company purchases and ships the items.
They also have subscription billing options for U.S. streaming services.
While the service can be used to purchase anything that ships within the U.S. only to have them delivered anywhere internationally (except for sanctioned countries) there are instances when people feel they need to import items due to country restrictions.
One example of this is vaping within the EU. Clearomisers and cartridges aren’t available with more than 2ml capacity. Larger capacities will need modifications and those parts need to be imported. It’s easier to import parts than it is e-juice because there are no nicotine products involved.
The Coinsfer affiliate program pays 2.5% commission on the total of the first order value and uses a 1-day cookie. The minimum payout is $50 USD and that’s paid in bitcoin.
Register for the Coinsfer affiliate program here.
9. Trezor
Trezor is the brainchild of Marek Palatinus, founder of SatoshiLabs and Slushpool, so not a stranger to bitcoin or blockchain security.
The first Trezor wallet was launched before the Ledger wallet and both are the leading cold storage wallets for bitcoin and various other cryptocurrencies. The price is roughly the same but the core differences are the number of other cryptocurrencies the wallets support.
Currently, the only major coins the Trezor doesn’t support is Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens, however, MyEtherWallet can be used for software support, whereas Ledger already has that integrated.
Those are the main differences, other than aesthetics as the Ledger is stainless steel whereas the Trezor is plastic but with a touchscreen display rather than the two-button design of the Ledger wallet.
When you’re promoting anything relating to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, cold storage wallets are a must as they provide the highest level of security because they are kept disconnected from the internet and are encrypted when users log into the wallet.
The Trezor affiliate program pays a 12% commission for your first ten sales, then increases to 15% commission.
The TUNE affiliate network (formerly hasoffers.com) is used to manage the affiliate program. Cookies are set to 90-days and payments can be made in EUR or in bitcoin. Payments are processed monthly around the 1st. If you choose to be paid in BTC, the exchange rate on CoinGecko.com is used.
The minimum payment thresholds are 100 EURO for payment in bitcoin or for wire transfers in EUR, there’s a higher threshold of $200.
Sign up for the Trezor affiliate program here.
10. Coin Corner
Coin Corner is based on the Isle of Man and have been operating since 2014. The islands status is a Crown Dependency so it’s neither part of the UK or the EU. The area is popular among wealthy investors and businesses because tax rates are cheaper.
The Coin Corner bitcoin exchange was the first cryptocurrency business to have Designated Business Status. As such, they are regulated by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.
The core service is to make it easy to buy bitcoin using either GBP or EUR. In 2018, they expanded beyond bitcoin to include Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.
For those new to bitcoin and other digital currencies, the small selection can make it less intimidating to start trading.
The affiliate program pays a £10 referral bonus to the affiliate and the customer once they’ve registered, verified their identity, and traded at least £100 (buying or selling) within the first three months of registering.
The £100 or EUR equivalent can be accumulated over the three-month period rather than deposited in one transaction.
Sign up for the Coin Corner affiliate program here.
11. Bit Panda
Bit Panda is based in Austria and has been operating since 2014. The platform provides training to onboard beginners to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In terms of trading, Bit Panda focuses on only the major cryptocurrencies of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, DASH, and Ripple. That’s only for starting though as they have a larger exchange too.
The platform is designed to make it easy for bitcoin beginners to start trading with the largest cryptocurrencies before progressing to Bit Panda Pro.
The pro version is better suited to business users and experienced investors as that’s a larger cryptocurrency exchange that covers some exotic altcoins and other micro digital currencies.
Being based in Austria, the service is available in the country’s native language of German. As with the majority of bitcoin platforms, the site is in English, but they also have a German version and can provide support in the German language too.
However, take note of this…
New regulations for Germany came into effect in January 2020 requiring bitcoin exchanges and bitcoin custodians, which are any business holding private keys for others, to be licensed, or in the process of applying for a license by the end of November 2020.
In light of the regulation change for Germany, affiliate commissions won’t be paid for referrals from new registrations from people residing in Germany.
You can target Austria in your marketing as Austrians will prefer a service in their native language, but for Germany, the new rules are that companies need to be licensed to be able to “address the German market”.
In other words, marketing bitcoin towards people living in Germany needs a license. Bit Panda currently does not have one so you can’t target Germany in your promotions. Until they get a license anyway.
Check the affiliate ToS when you sign up. (The shortcut is to search the page for “Germany” – there are only 3 mentions)
The affiliate program for Bit Panda uses a 30-day cookie and pays a 20% revenue share of the transaction fees generated by your referrals. The fees range between 3% and 7% depending on the level of ID verification and the payment method used.
The signup process is two-steps. First, you need to register a user account on Bit Panda, then you need to apply to join the affiliate program. When applying, you need to use the same email address on both sign up forms.
Payments are made by the end of the following calendar month after your referral joined. Commissions are paid in euros to your fiat wallet and you can then withdraw your payments by wire transfer.
Sign up for the Bit Panda affiliate program here.
12. Luno
Luno started out as a bitcoin exchange in 2013. Since then, they’ve grown to cover 40 countries, most of which are European countries, developing countries and countries considered to be middle-income.
While they now describe themselves as a crypto exchange, they’re best suited to those just want to test the waters rather than build a large portfolio. The only cryptocurrencies they have on the exchange are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple.
The platform provides a Luno wallet that lets users spend and receive both crypto and fiat currencies, both of which can be converted either way using the Luno app. Crypto-to-fiat or fiat-to-crypto.
The local currencies they support are:
- Euro (EUR)
- Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)
- South African Rand (ZAR)
- Nigerian Naira (NGN)
- Malaysian Ringitt (MYR)
Each currency can be paired such as BTC/EUR, ETH/ZAR etc.
One of the main selling points of Luno is their educational training. The combination of just enough tools to get started with bitcoin and the educational resources included could make the Luno bitcoin exchange a suitable option for those entirely new to bitcoin trading.
The Luno affiliate program is technically a refer-a-friend program but it can be used to share with fans/followers/subscribers across social media, posted on your website or used in emails.
Rather than paying a fiat commission, affiliates are paid a flat amount in bitcoin for each referral and the amount of bitcoin paid is country-specific and subject to change. Details are provided on the Luno.com page linked below.
