Well, i have made $15M+ worth of business from Upwork and from people who i met there (over 15 years, but peaked at almost $3M last year). That certainly isn't/wasn't an insignificant thing. I am not sure i can agree with your statement that it only represents a race to the bottom kind of thing. Right now it appears to be true but wasn't at all true just a year ago.

And i can't think of a way i could do it in any different way.