this is NOT good news. I recently wrote about the lack of trading volume causing Shapeshift to stop supporting Steem as well. The Steem team needs to do SOMETHING to build some excitement and get ppl interested. What's wrong with a marketing budget? Sometimes a better product is out-done by a better marketing campaign (ie Betamax vs VHS).
I hope the Steem team starts creating a news cycle soon. SMT's simply dind't get ppl excited. Too vague and abstract.