Bitcoin faucets are web-based operations which are supposed to hand out free micro-amounts of bitcoin to their users, for performing menial “tasks” such as entering a CAPTCHA code and clicking a claim button every now and then. It has to be said that such faucets have a rather bad reputation in the crypto-industry. Free money is always too-good-to-be-true and there are absolutely NO exceptions to that rule. This is why we were rather surprised that 99Bitcoins – otherwise a pretty useful destination for information on Bitcoin scams and general crypto-technology – were running such a faucet.
Why do people dislike these faucets though? There are faucet scammers out there, who never intend to pay their “users.” While some faucets do indeed pay, most of them run browser-based miners, which hijack the resources of their users, to mine various cryptocurrencies for the perpetrators.
In this regard, the community generally agrees that the 99Bitcoins faucet actually pays. Sure, the amounts are indeed minute, and this is by far not the best way to generate bitcoins, but at least it is not a straight-up scam.
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What Does the 99Bitcoins Faucet Do?
The 99Bitcoins faucet does exactly what it says on the package, and – unfortunately – a little more. What exactly does that mean?
To start earning satoshis, 99Bitcoins’ faucet users are required to create an account, to log in and to solve a CAPTCHA or various media puzzle challenges. The “claim Bitcoin” button can then be clicked. Users are allowed to claim their satoshis this way, once every 5 minutes. Those who claim more than 120 times during a 24-hour period, are banned from using the faucet. Bots are obviously not allowed, and neither are VPS and VPN connections. The same goes for CAPTCHA-solving software. The rules are straightforward enough, and it is obvious that they are meant to make users personally spend as much time on the faucet page as possible.
The amount of satoshis awarded after every claim is determined randomly. To be allowed to “cash out,” users need to reach a limit of 13,000 satoshis. According to the faucet page, thus far, the service has handed out almost 1.2 billion satoshis, which makes almost 12 bitcoins. Only after cashing out will the satoshis show up in the users’ wallets.
Payouts are only made once a week, on Sundays, and only to those who qualify for a payout as detailed above.
Seniority bonuses are also part of the 99Bitcoins faucet picture. Those who make a claim at least once every 30 days for instance, get an additional 5% bonus on their payments. The bonus scheme starts after the first month of use. After the second month, the bonus goes to 7%, after the 3rd month to 9%, then 12% and then 15%.
What’s the Catch?
As you may have guessed, there is indeed a catch here. Some time ago, users noticed that when keeping the 99Bitcoins faucet page open, to claim their satoshis, their CPUs suddenly became very busy. When they checked through the task manager, they saw that indeed, their CPUs had been pushed to 100%. This raised suspicion that there may be some sort of CPU-based mining going on, through the resources of the user, in a sneaky and underhanded way, no less. These suspicions were then confirmed, when 99Bitcoins posted a notice at their site, essentially admitting that they were mining Monero through users’ CPUs. The notice is still there (in red, towards the bottom of the page). The claim is that this mining angle is needed to keep the faucet alive.
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Regardless, scores of their users have since deserted them, on account of this issue.
Should I trust the 99Bitcoins Faucet?
All the facts regarding this operation have been laid bare above. If you accept these terms, then sure, why not? Just know that you will be mining Monero for these folks through your CPU. Also, you should be aware that using a faucet is by far not the most efficient way of acquiring some bitcoins.
Complaints
Past the above detailed Monero-mining issue, there aren’t really any complaints about 99Bitcoins’ faucet. Now that they’re upfront about the mining, it may indeed be an honest operation. You can read about this service by navigating to this BitcoinTalk thread.
99Bitcoins Faucet Review Conclusion
For the most part, 99Bitcoins’ faucet does exactly what it claims to do. It wasn’t nice of them to hide the fact that they were using their clients’ CPUs for Monero mining in the beginning, and to only come clean after they were figured out. That cost them quite a bit on the credibility front.
Remember: free money does not really exist. You can fool around with this faucet if it entertains you, but be aware that you will most likely end up putting in a lot of work for something that will not be worth your while.
Review Verdict: 99Bitcoins’ Bitcoin Faucet is legit, but not recommended!
Official Site: 99Bitcoins.com/Bitcoin-Faucet/
Please leave any feedback – positive or negative – about 99Bitcoins’ BTC Faucet service by commenting below.
Thanks for reading our 99Bitcoins Faucet review. To learn how money can be made using Bitcoin, feel free to read our Bitcoin Investment Guide. To receive relevant cryptocurrency news and scam warnings directly to your e-mailbox, feel free to subscribe to ScamBitcoin.com!
Hi,
i have been using Bitcoin Faucets and specifically 99Bitcoins faucet for over a year now.
this has been a nice side income for me and the payouts always come in time
I am ok with with this monero mining if this is what’s require to maintain the faucet to make the payout – why would you consider it an issue? especially if the webmaster states that this is a part of the background process
There are not many honest faucets out there, which is why i thought it would be wise to provide with a positive feedback here
Regards
Gil
Well for starters it was not an issue, until you made it seem like one. All I ask for was a review and I put my thoughts. I am entitled to my thoughts no?
If I feel that a certain website is exploiting others for their own gains it is only natural I ask moderators for a review before jumping into the same bandwagon.
The problem with people in the digital world is their morale compass is all screwed up beyond recognization.
There are faucets out there that does pay. But at the same time they advertise scam website on their page because they are being paid to do so.
I understand that you generally want to defend 99bitcoins as you are benefitting for their faucets. And thats just human nature, I don’t blame you. My other reply is currently awaiting moderation and it will practically self explain everything.
Hey guys, Ofir here from 99Bitcoins.
I’ll be the first to admit that we should have put that notice straight from the start. Thing is that at the time we didn’t really know what we were doing and wanted to test some stuff out. In any case, the miner was running for a very short time before we understood the importance of this and put up the notice.
Our faucet is one of the oldest and highest paying faucets around, and with the increasing price of Bitcoin it’s getting hard to sustain so we need to get creative with business models from time to time.
It’s important to say that the miner was running only on the faucet page and on no other page on the site as well.
Glad I caught this review, let me know if you have any specific questions.