I think that both Bitcoin and Steemits problem is that they build on investors for fast and easy money instead of stability. A lot of the efforts have been targeted at making it interesting for people with money. This has run against the other idea of the Steemit network: to use a fixed inflation and a clever faucet to make the growth of the currency depend on ordinary people. With a growing usage Steemit would grow in a whole other way than the scarcity based currencies, but sadly the investors has won or are about to, and that kind of economy eats itself. Even the investors will be ruined by their own greed.
The only thing we can hope for is that they have to sell out when Steem will be worth almost nothing, and that Steemit will still survive...
You and I have invested almost all our efforts in powering up. To me it has been an OK investment. I have you and others reading my comic (and thanks for that), I got a year financed by crypto, I have two great translators and have gained both knowledge and creative energy from all you guys in the community. But if we are to change things we have to power up and organize. Steemit gives the power to the rich, so we have to become the rich if we shall have a say in what is happening. That is the reason I never powered down.
I am willing to back any realistic suggestions, even if I will not gain economically in a period. But as long as we are up against investors I am not an optimist. We are simply not rich enough.
We need a core of dolphins to support good creators like yourself and draw in others. Steemit is still too small to interest the big Internet stars, but I think it's ideal for smaller players to generate extra income. It may take some time, but we may be able to make it a goto place for cult comics and other niche culture.
Yes, the bottom line is that people need to power up - see this as an investment instead of an income - at least for a while ahead.