Basically, the amount of earning you can get is based on the level of your membership in this forum. That's how the bounty system in this forum works; however, since the onset of the merit system, it has been hard to rank-up memberships, and that's why it has benefited many bounties because they won't have to pay more to joiners, because basically, all of them would be nailed to the level they are in when it was implemented. But basically, stakes are based on the level and if you meet the requirements with some additional depending on the bounty details.