Sorry to bud in, but I can't help myself...
If the issue is funding for development, I actually think the chain would be better served by a worker proposal system like the one that BitShares has, as opposed to the on-again-off-again idea that witnesses should be developers/marketers/etc.
I always thought this was super reasonable, and yes I know that a certain someone proposing budgets made most of us cringe, but I think for the most part we let our biases get the best of us and I mean that respectfully.
It makes perfect sense that the chain's stake holders would want to decentralize development too. I mean, many of us can talk until we are blue in the face about how much better Steemit Inc could do, but there is no reason why development for this blockchain has to come strictly from them.
I would love for other big stake holders to weigh in on this. It looks like a win/ win situation.
I'm pretty sure it's not on steemit's roadmap, so it would take another dev team to incorporate it I think. I doubt that will happen in the short term, but it's definitely possible in a year or so.