Crypto earnings calculator

How to use it well

The calculator is only as useful as the rate you put into it, and the most common mistake is entering the advertised figure. Before you type anything, apply the three adjustments we set out in our APY versus APR guide.

If the product is exchange staking, find the commission — usually in help documentation rather than on the product page — and enter it in the commission field rather than reducing the rate yourself. The calculator will show you exactly what the fee costs over the horizon, which is often more persuasive than the percentage.

If the product has a promotional tranche, tick the box and enter the cap and the rate above it. This is the adjustment that changes results most dramatically, and seeing an advertised 11% resolve into a blended 3.5% on a real balance is the single most useful output this tool produces.

If you are comparing two platforms, run both and compare the total value rather than the rate. Differences in compounding frequency and commission mean two similar-looking rates can produce noticeably different outcomes over three to five years.

What each input does

Three worked examples

The quickest way to understand what this tool is for is to run three comparisons that look obvious on a landing page and come out differently once the arithmetic is done.

Example one: the promotional tranche

A platform advertises 11% on USDT. Another advertises a flat 4%. On the face of it there is no contest.

Enter $10,000 at 11% with the tranche box ticked, a $200 cap and 3.2% above it. The effective rate resolves to roughly 3.4%, because 98% of the deposit earns the lower figure. Now run the flat 4%. It pays more — on a $10,000 balance, meaningfully more over three years, and the gap widens as the balance grows because the tranche stays the same size.

The crossover sits somewhere near $2,000. Below it the promotional product genuinely wins; above it the flat rate does. That is the entire analysis, and it takes about twenty seconds once you know to run it.

Example two: the staking commission

Two platforms both stake Ethereum. One quotes a gross network rate of 4% and takes a 33% commission. The other charges a flat 10% protocol fee on the same underlying reward.

Enter $20,000 at 4% with monthly compounding, first with a 33% commission and then with 10%. The result gap on a five-year horizon is large enough to be worth several hundred dollars, from identical exposure to an identical protocol with identical risk to the underlying asset. Nothing about the two positions differs except who keeps the reward.

This is the comparison most people never run, because the commission figure usually lives in a help article rather than next to the rate. Our Ethereum page works through the same arithmetic in ETH terms.

Example three: the tiered Bitcoin rate

A lender publishes up to 5.25% on Bitcoin below 0.5 BTC and 2% above it. If you hold 2 BTC, the headline describes a quarter of your position.

Tick the tranche box, set the cap to the dollar value of 0.5 BTC and the rate above it to 2%. The blended figure lands near 2.8%. That is still a genuine rate and among the best available on Bitcoin — it is simply not 5.25%, and knowing the difference changes whether you split the position across two venues. Our Bitcoin page has the full tier table.

What compounding is really worth

Compounding gets more attention in crypto marketing than it deserves, and the calculator makes it easy to see why.

At a 4% rate, daily compounding produces an effective annual yield of about 4.08% against a simple 4%. That is eight basis points — real, but eight basis points. On a $10,000 balance it is eight dollars in the first year. Compare that with the seven hundred and fifty basis points a promotional tranche can remove, and the relative importance becomes obvious.

Where compounding does earn its keep is over long horizons at higher rates. Run $10,000 at 9% over ten years with daily compounding and then with none: the compounding version pulls meaningfully ahead, because each year's interest has had time to work. The effect is multiplicative in time and in rate, which is exactly why it looks negligible at three years and substantial at fifteen.

The practical takeaway is a hierarchy. First, find out what proportion of your balance receives the advertised rate. Second, find the commission. Third, and only then, worry about compounding frequency. Our APY versus APR guide sets out the full normalisation procedure.

What it cannot tell you

Price movement. The largest limitation by far. If you are earning 12% on a proof-of-stake asset, what that asset's price does will dominate your outcome completely. A 12% reward on something that falls 40% is a 33% loss. No yield calculator can or should attempt to project that.

Tax. Results are gross. In most jurisdictions rewards are ordinary income when received, which reduces the amount available to compound and creates a liability whether or not you sell. Our tax guide covers the mechanics.

Rate changes. The calculator assumes a constant rate. In reality DeFi rates float with utilisation, promotional rates expire, and network staking rates drift as total staked supply changes. A three-year projection at today's rate is an illustration, not a forecast.

Counterparty failure. The most important variable of all is not in any of these fields. Whether the platform is still operating and solvent in three years determines whether any of the projected return arrives. Our risk guide covers how to assess that.