Top crypto affiliate programs to explore in 2025

Understanding crypto affiliate programs and their opportunities

For businesses, affiliate programs can be a valuable way to increase impressions, enhance brand awareness, and even generate passive income. In the crypto space, affiliate programs have been particularly successful in boosting crypto ecosystems while making it easy to earn extra on your holdings.

With crypto affiliate programs, you can recommend a platform (like an exchange, wallet, or trading site), share a unique affiliate link or referral code, and earn commission when someone you referred signs up or transacts. Affiliate programs can significantly promote larger crypto audiences, offer flexible payouts (in fiat or crypto, such as USDT), and provide compounding revenue shares if the program rewards ongoing trading volume.

However, crypto affiliate programs can get complicated. Not necessarily when you sign up and refer, but when you handle reconciling and actually receiving money from multiple referral programs, it can become complex to keep track of and translate those earnings into actionable cash flow for your business. Slash can help you better manage crypto affiliate programs, while also offering our own promotions that can help you earn.⁴ Keep reading to learn more about how crypto affiliate programs can work for you and how slash can help:

What is a crypto affiliate program?

A crypto affiliate program is a program that grants commission rewards, such as % of fees, ongoing revshares, or direct value, when you refer users and they then complete a qualifying action. These actions can involve a number of different things, including simply opening an account, making a deposit, executing a trade, purchasing a product, or something else, depending on the platform.

Affiliate marketing isn’t only involved in crypto, but has other use cases. For example, Slash’s recent affiliate partnership with AppLovin meant higher cashback rewards and $ value credits directly into new sign-up accounts. For crypto affiliate programs, these pertain specifically to cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchange products or adjacent tools such as hardware wallets.

Some of the core aspects of a crypto affiliate program include:

• Crypto-related rewards, such as:
  • Crypto payouts, % reimbursements, fees, special offers or access, and more
• Referral links or affiliate links are used to send out and actually access the affiliate program
• A qualifying event (like a sign-up, a successful trade, or a purchase)
• A payout schedule in cryptocurrency (or fiat, depending on the nature of the crypto affiliate program or cryptocurrency)
• A dashboard or accessible location to see stats, exports, and other information that can be helpful for crypto tax or synced to a platform like Slash for ease of accounting and financial reporting.

What are the best crypto affiliate programs?

The best affiliate programs depend on who you reach, such as investors, advanced traders, or businesses. Here are some notable programs and the audiences they’re directed to:

Coinbase

Beginner-friendly onramp from a well-known cryptocurrency exchange. Good if your audience wants mainstream credibility and a clean UX.

Bybit

Popular with active traders, many affiliates appreciate its competitive revenue share models tied to trading volume.

CoinRule

Automation tool for strategy-minded users; strong if your audience wants rules-based trading.

Changelly

Instant-swap model with broad cryptocurrency coverage; flexible for global audiences.

KuCoin

Large international crypto exchange with deep markets; appealing if your audience spans multiple regions.

Ledger

Hardware + security; great for education-driven content and self-custody advocates.

Kraken

Reputation-forward, compliant-minded cryptocurrency exchange; fits more conservative or institutional-leaning readers.

How crypto affiliate programs generate revenue?

Crypto affiliate programs can generate revenue and value in a number of ways depending on the businesses and platforms that run them. Here are some of the standard ways in which this may take place:

• Commission on referrals: This is a common way to generate revenue from affiliate programs. These often include a fixed CPA or a % of a fees, transaction, or trading volume.
• Recurring commissions: ongoing revenue share when a referred user keeps trading or renewing a subscription for instance.
• Bonuses or incentives: tiered payouts for hitting milestones, such as high-value spending or breaking a trade threshold.
• Conversion-based rewards: get paid for specific actions like KYC, deposit, or first trade.

Not only are crypto affiliate programs great on the simple fact that they can generate revenue for you and your business, but there are a number of other benefits:

Five key benefits of joining a crypto affiliate program

Some of those benefits include:

1. An additional revenue stream with minimal upfront costs. Affiliate programs can be fairly easy to set up and the rewards can be substantial. Earn simply by promoting platforms or tools through an affiliate program.
2. Access to the crypto ecosystem growth. Crypto is fast-moving, evolving, and has potential for high earnings and growth for your business. Through affiliate programs, you can earn rewards and continue to expand and grow your operations.
3. Passive income potential. Through recurring commissions or other variations in passive earnings through affiliate programs, you can earn passive income and earn a revenue share on your referral success.
4. Flexible payment methods. Crypto is a very flexible payment method, including stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and USDSL that can be easily on- or off-ramped as well as commonly traded and used methods like Bitcoin payouts. Knowing what your wallet is compatible with can help ensure you are paying and receiving in helpful cryptocurrencies.
5. Brand reach and credibility. By partnering with established exchanges, you can enhance audience trust, increase discovery, and expand your overall reach.

How to choose the best cryptocurrency affiliate program for you

Choosing the right cryptocurrency affiliate means you are optimizing your chances of earnings. Some of the key things to look for, therefore, can depend on your business structure and the sort of payouts you are hoping to receive. Here’s the shortlist:

• Reputation and reliability of the platform. Verify the platform or program by user trust. Ensure there is adequate support and compliance, and that the affiliate referral isn’t simply a phishing scheme or scam.
• Commission models that work for you. Look for commission models that work for you, including CPA vs. revenue share, cookie length, caps, and more.
• Payment frequency & methods. Payouts in fiat vs crypto, depending on which you need access to for business cash flow. As well as factoring in threshold and region-based earning potential.
• Tracking & reporting. How easily you are able to extract data for analytics, crypto tax, and general business financing. Accurate and helpful tools can sync with the platforms you already use or otherwise help your business. Using Slash can help you sync to stablecoin payments, on- and off-ramping, and your business banking, all in one dashboard, and all easily able to sync with your accounting tools.
• Program terms & restrictions. Check for specific terms, including paid ads rules, geo rules, or content limitations.
• Integration with financial tools. Look for options like connect via webhooks, CSV, or APIs that work with your current tooling.

Streamline your crypto affiliate earnings with Slash

Crypto affiliate programs are amazing avenues for successful growth, but understanding what to do with that growth after the fact is equally important. Beyond referral links and payouts across different platforms from Binance, Bybit, Ledger, or other trading platforms, you need a way to access those tools alongside your banking.¹

At Slash, we offer a range of affiliate programs, including media buying and crypto. Moreover, we make it easy for you to bank and track both fiat and cryptocurrencies, saving you from the tedious process of managing your funds afterward. At Slash, you can:

• Access real-time transfers and tracking so payouts from your revenue shares can quickly hit your account, and you can be automatically be alerted when that happens.
• Multi-currency support so both your fiat and crypto can operate for you , all in one platform.
• Corporate cards that let you run ad campaigns, pay content creators, and more. All earning up to 2% cashback, all accessible with real-time tracking and automated alerts right in your dashboard.
• Accounting integrations that help you stay on top of your reporting and accounting, so that come tax season, you are not struggling to keep up with fiat and crypto tax solutions.

For teams seeking all-in-one finance solutions spanning both crypto and fiat, access the tools that make revenue management easy, and be able to earn from affiliate programs of our own, Slash is a perfect option for you. We power high-growth, ambitious companies that need the tools to succeed and scale.

Learn more at Slash.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do crypto affiliates make?

Crypto affiliate earning can vary widely based on the number of referrals, how active referrals are (trade volume, etc.), and the structure of the program, including commission structure. Ensure you check the overview of the program you go with and understand the components of rewards before you begin

Is crypto good for affiliate marketing?

Yes, crypto is great for affiliate marketing as an opportunity to earn on a growing currency type. However, like any investment or financial decision, there are necessary risks involved that you should consider before approaching or investing in a given campaign.

Which is the highest-paying crypto affiliate program?

There is no completely best or highest paying program; instead, programs differ on a number of factors, including high-to-low percentages of trading volume, revenue share (% or set amount), and bonuses.