The problem with Steem is that there is the distribution is fundamentally wrong, just to favour a selected few. The greediness of Steem developers caused this, there is no justification for centralizing the distribution of these tokens, the growth of the token too is really not based on solid fundamentals but a classic pump and dump chart. I only pity the gullible investors that their BTC have been trapped into the project
All coin distribution will eventually gravitate towards a centralized distribution because that's the reality of the economic substrate (real life wealth distribution that affects holdings in the stock market, real estate, precious metals, even cryptocurrencies).
Agreed, but that doesn't mean control over the blockchain necessarily has to gravitate to centralized, yet for Steem and Bitcoin it does (and every blockchain designed thus far). So I hope you understand why I still think I (as a developer) have something very valuable to offer to the crypto-currency movement.
You need to unconflate the two in your analysis. That is one of my many epiphanies.
If Steemit Inc magically converted all Steem Power to Steem and gave it away to the users, most users would say "oh free money, let me cash them out"
Except if you locked it up.
The small guy is usually the guy with financial needs that are waiting to be covered by crypto-gains.
That is not a mass market.