I believe bitcoin hasn't been widely accepted in part due to volatility in the market. People who have seen it and garnered some interest hesitate to put money into something that historically has gone up as fast as it has gone down.
Myself. I have been interested for awhile in cryptocurrency. As an average citizen here in the US, I don't have the huge capitol to invest in equipment to mine it, or a lot of extra cash to invest in it.
Steemit absolutely levels the playing field. Anyone can generate content, contribute and be rewarded. Granted posts that seem silly to some of us are getting rewarded beyond what we see as equal to the work. I make the argument that has always been true of the entertainment field. Crypto may have aways to go yet, but a blockchain that rewards the miners while rewarding the content developers and those who are reading at the same time... well I don't see that as anything but the start of large scale acceptance