I encourage your optimism but for me the answer is simple: I cannot yet pay for groceries with steem. It may seem trivial, but the challenge steem faces is technological. Because if STEEm is designed as a dollar transference mechanism we are still at the mercy of Fiat. Of course there are many other reasons. I'm layman in cryptos so my take is very limited. The one thing that I see: we have proven WELL AND BEYOND the core principal of steem: community building. I'm proud with what Steemit has become and look forward to what the steem eco-system could become. We should support the developers at this moment if we want to see steem thrive.