Bug bounties are rather pathetic. As you stated it's doing grunt work for corporations that pay 10-100x less than the exploit would fetch on the market. I can

Bug bounties are rather pathetic. As you stated it's doing grunt work for corporations that pay 10-100x less than the exploit would fetch on the market. I can only assume these capitalize on fame because it can lead to jobs in the industry. If it WAS about the money, and (not that I encourage it) your moral compass is sufficiently adjusted, there is far more money to be made selling the exploits for bitcoin elsewhere. Companies are saving an absolute metric boatload of money by having people work as red team for free, and only paying a pittance to solve most bugs (with some exceptions).