Steem never required mass adoption for the crypto to succeed, it still doesn't. These were all points people like to talk about and dream about, but I never found them relevant to what Steem can actually deliver to us for value.

SMT's are/were the solution to SP conglomeration, people just build an alt-community on a different SMT and find a website which governs according to the SMT, not Steem. People would just need the bare minimum SP to transact on blockchain, but rewards would be tied to the SMT.