Get paid to read? Singapore is making it happen

Readers flip open a book, log a minimum 15-minute session on the app, and hit submit. Every 15-minute session earns you 20 virtual coins.

If you need a little financial push to finally finish that book on your nightstand, Singapore has found a hack. Recently, Singapore’s National Library Board (NLB) launched ReadSG, a nationwide movement designed to turn scrolling time into reading time.

Readers flip open a book, log a minimum 15-minute session on the app, and hit submit. Every 15-minute session earns you 20 virtual coins. (Photo: Adobe Stock)

The mission is simple: get citizens to read for just 15 minutes a day, whether that’s on the morning train ride, during a coffee break, or right before hitting the pillow.

How it works: 

It’s all gamified through a government crowdsourcing portal called CrowdTaskSG (accessed via Singpass).

Readers flip open a book, log a minimum 15-minute session on the app, and hit submit. Every 15-minute session earns you 20 virtual coins.

Once you hit 1,000 coins, you can cash out SG$1 (around ₹65). You can only log one session per day, meaning it takes 50 days of consistent reading to hit that first dollar milestone.

Beyond the small cash payouts, readers earn XP to climb leaderboards, unlock limited-edition library charms, and enter lucky draws for e-readers.

Why now?

While it won’t make anyone rich, the goal is to build habits. With brain-rot scrolling taking over short attention spans, the 15-minute challenge is designed to make reading feel micro, effortless, and rewarding again.

For those who don’t care about the extra change, sessions logged through October also feed into a charity drive.