I don't think it is a pessimistic future, in 9 months of simple blogging, I have earned, saved and invested about $7k or so, (depending on price) We have more end users, sign-ups are up, usage is up. Every indication is by trial or error this is going to take off.

I don't know what the future brings, but we have great tech, a good community and several other projects being started on the block chain.

The platform is growing and the company responds to problems. So, if the speculation value of Steem starts to fail, I am sure they will take measures to create an income streem, trading and businesses with earning potential will be build on the blockchain. There is even an opportunity to consider advertizing revenue in the future. The more users we have the more opportunity we have. Everything in Crypto is pretty much speculation.

If you need a mapped out opportunity, it will be difficult to find in crypto in my opinion.