If you are yet to see the announcement, 
So, you want to earn cryptocurrency online?
Consumer rewards are something that many of us on Hive don't focus nearly enough attention on when advertising this place outside, as for the most part, we ourselves might see them as insignificant. However, they definitely add up over time and they are a great piece of the gamification puzzle, as they engage users to try to improve their numbers each week. They also add incremental value that gets pushed straight into Hive Power (HP) and this will compound over time and add a near effortless return by just voting on what one enjoys to engage with.
However, there is a fair bit of complexity in the mechanisms surrounding curation consumer rewards and unless interested, many don't have a good handle on them even after years of engaging here. This is because in comparison to earning through posting and commenting, for most, the earnings from consumption aren't that large. But they are important - as they are part of the further distribution and therefore decentralization of the blockchain and while only a small percentage may ever have the possibility to live completely off of curation, with tens of thousands of accounts consuming and earning, the numbers add up fast. This is even more true that the consumer:contributor rewards are now split down the middle 50/50. Remember, 35% percent of the reward pool goes to consumption efforts!!
Consumer rewards in a nutshell
Without going into too much detail, let's have a quick look at consumer rewards on Hive.
People who own HIVE tokens can "power up" and stake them on the platform, meaning that they have a relative percentage share of the HIVE pool of value, the new HIVE tokens that are getting created. This "share" can then be used through voting to direct a fraction of value from the pool for example, to an enjoyable post or an important comment. When the post payout comes after 7 days, this value is then shared between all of the voters and the candidate voted upon.
There are many technical aspects that affect the outcome of the value received, but for now, all you really need to know is that on Hive, you can earn cryptocurrency just by staking some HIVE and consuming content you love, from people you enjoy to read and interact with.
It really is that easy to earn some crypto on Hive!
Now, back to the question at hand. If this was your first day on the blockchain would - earn as a curator or, earn as a consumer - be more compelling for you to explore a deeper into the Hive?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]