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It works the exact same way it would work with a corporation. Corporation pays employees a wage, that wage is a huge expense, but the value derived from the work is greater than the compensation allocated.

The big difference is Hive engages in a lot of "loss leading".
Meaning we take a lot of losses and give a lot of money away,
with the hopes of luring more capital to the platform.

Corporations do this with sales, we do it with upvotes on content worth less than the payout.