Projects like the ones you mention (some that I use) are showing a different path to the STEEM blockchain. Applications are taking a lot of the pool reward, but at the same time they are creating and developing the future, which, indirectly, benefits every single one of us.

As you mentioned, STEEM is rapidly becoming the token that is going to be the "money" on this blockchain., which shows us how incredibly rare and expensive STEEM will become in the future.