Thanks for your opinion.

who are new to crypto may still be weary about 'swapping' their freely usable cash for something they cannot hold.

I'm not sure about this. People actually do buy all kinds of virtual currencies like Audible credits, WoW gold or arcade call tokens, so why not Steem, if they want to use / take part in the service?

Can you cash out during trial period?

No, unless you cash in first.

until we have something in place to guide '1 person 1 vote'

You're right, but as you mentioned, it's years, if not decades, down the line. The entire internet has been built on "cheap" accounts and only OAuth has started changing this (a bit). I don't think that KYCing users for blogs - let alone voting - will be a reasonable entry barrier for the upcoming years. Too few people will sign up.