Rea, thank you for putting into words what I also feel.
I think many of us feel this epiphany once we explore deep enough. Its like going down the rabbit hole.
I think one of the difficult things of crypto is how high the entry barrier is. Like you mentioned, the price of buying bitcoins, and then the minefield of projects.
With steemit, it's overcome most of that, and i'm glad that Dan and co, have gone the route of making something that is powered by crypto, but has low entry barrier for people with no crypto-experience.