Demand for freedom and security which come from distributed nodes. In steem's case you have a little more utility built in.
'Apps and nodes' is a counterexample against your statement saying the community can do nothing.
Not too long ago steem was $4 at a korean exchange. I guess you can ask about your demand there? :)
Its easy to say it's 0 in a bear market, which is no different from saying that a bullrun will continue forever.