Does crypto pay interest or dividends?

No, not by itself. A bitcoin sitting in a wallet earns nothing. Crypto holders can earn income only by putting their coins to use, through staking, lending or reward programs, and each of those carries risks that a savings account does not.

Do coins pay anything by themselves?

A share of stock is a claim on a company, and the company may pay part of its profit to shareholders as a dividend. A bond is a loan that pays interest. Most cryptocurrencies are neither. They are entries on a ledger with no company behind them and no profit to share. More on that difference is in crypto vs stocks.

So the only return from simply holding a coin is a change in its price, which can go either way.

Where does crypto income come from?

• Staking. Holders of some coins can lock them up to help run the network and receive new coins as a reward. See crypto staking.
• Lending. Coins can be lent to borrowers, through a company or a DeFi program, in return for interest. See crypto lending and borrowing.
• Supplying liquidity. People who fund trading pools collect a share of swap fees, a practice tied to yield farming.
• Reward programs. Some exchanges pay customers a rate for keeping certain coins, often stablecoins, on the platform.

A small number of tokens share a project's fee income with holders, which resembles a dividend. That design raises the question of whether the token is a security under financial law.

Stablecoins are a special case in the United States. The GENIUS Act, enacted on July 18, 2025, bars stablecoin issuers from paying holders interest or yield simply for holding the token. In September 2025, the Treasury asked for public comment on whether indirect payments are restricted too, and how far the ban reaches rewards paid by other companies has been disputed.

Is it like interest from a bank?

No. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures deposits at insured banks, up to $250,000 per depositor at each bank. The agency says that cover does not extend to crypto assets, or to losses when a crypto company fails. Details are in is crypto insured.

The rate is usually variable and can be cut at any time. Rewards are often paid in a coin whose price can fall by more than the reward is worth. And the company or program paying the return can fail, as the lender Celsius did in 2022 after advertising high rates on deposits.

Is the income taxed?

In the United States, the IRS treats rewards from staking and similar activities as ordinary income, valued in dollars when received. See how crypto is taxed in the United States. Rules differ by country and state and change over time, so the official source or a qualified professional is the place to check a particular situation.