Many sites all over the internet also have authors not being paid for their work. Curators here are essentially investors and being rewarded on an investment by contributing through curating beneficial content is sort of part of the appeal here... just like posting valuable content and being able to possibly earn a reward. If reward incite profiteering then that’s all rewards, not just one groups.
I think emojis and other ways to interact would be a great way to begin to have a culture not solely obsessed with rewards, but we aren’t there yet.