Correct. No mathematical tricks. The double collateral for the smart contract guaranteed growth are placed in escrow by the hypothetical whale who takes the only risk. The whale is betting that her ongoing investment will increase the value of the ecosystem enough to give her a lucrative profit by offering a useful product insured by escrow locked up on the BitShares blockchain.

This is the same principle used by Disney World when they bought up tracts of swamp land in Orlando and then drove up its value by decades of investment in that ecosystem.