Wonderful answer, could have been a full post in its own right ! I totally agree with you and this makes me even more enthusiastic about Steemit which is, to the best of my knowledge, the most successful blockchain-based system that offers something of value to the "regular Joe" who couldn't care less about crypto-anarchy.

You notice very well that bitcoin (and crypto in general) is a post nationalist concept ! That observation is key ! Who then, among the powerful, are natural allies of everything post-national, everything that combats the current ill-smelling nationalist winds ? I'll give it in three ... ;-)

Your answer is a pearl, I absolutely love it !

Coming to DPOS - I see DPOS redemption if it evolves into something very close (hopefully a bit better) to what we have now as government system in the developed world. If for instance there is some kind of per-platform "mission statement" and then the "whales" write manifestos of "how" they plan to advance the platform toward its stated mission and then the users vote (continuously, not once every X years) to inform the whales of their actual performance, as perceived by the crowd.