RE: Steem now has a 1 Billion+ dollar market capitalization.... Thoughts and Perspective
I think you make a very good point there, that most of the top projects such as IOTA, EOS, NEO and Quantum has no real products yet they enjoy the highs. Steem in that regard is very much winning the race.
But one thing that users often forget while they cheer or more like pray for high price is that it only benefits the 'existing users' and not the 'incoming'. In fact, it makes it even harder for them to join the Steemit Blockchain, be it as small as $1. It's still a barrier.
Account cost= 6 x $4.07 = $24.42
While all of us are reaping good rewards on shitposts, it may not be the same after a few years. Most of us haven't even invested in Steem Blockchain, we just grew by posting. It will not be the same for incoming users, they will have to invest to use a 'Social Media' (the max number of users = Greater competition for reward pool). And I believe, that's where Steem would struggle.
Some important issues raise but we should also add, that the more people power up and the price of Steem rises the less amount of Steem is is actually paid out, while the USD value may seem high, the amount of Steem paid out is mess less... its kind of a head twister to get around, as an asset becomes more valuable relative to the USD value the blockchain actually profits because less of that asset is paid out...