@kevinwong - I do not know if Steem is the first cryptocurrency or not but I must say, like you have outlined, I do appreciate the model where the users have a share of the network and have the ability to direct it's destiny in proportion to their Steem ownership. Such ownership certainly promotes collaborative efforts to grow the network and thus grow the worth of one's ownership of crypto. The high infrastructure charges and congestion have rendered currencies like Bitcoin to become more of a 'storage of value' rather than an active currency. Like Gold in real word - they are stagnant forms of value storage.
Thanks for this interesting view of Steem and the value of ownership of crypto.
Upvoted.

Regards,

@vm2904