But can steem live up to that date?

I'm actually more worried about what happens after the new supply decreases.

No one can afford to run a witness node at 1/4 of today's rewards-level unless the price of STEEM goes up by a factor of 3 or 4 and stays there. There's no guarantee that the price will move that way. Hopefully, it will, but we won't know until we get to that point.

Either way, I definitely agree that growth and development are highly desirable.