This is exactly the way I see the crypto space evolving. December's huge move in market cap almost had to be institutional investors, and that is somewhat supported by the selloff over the holidays, especially on the Friday's before the long Christmas and New Years weekends.
Adoption by the mainstream will certainly be the next step, and is an exciting time for utility and transactional tokens. Imagine if STEEM or SBD becomes a transactional coin in addition to the utility function - that could be the birth of cryptocurrency 3.0
The excitement comes as mainstream adoption accelerates, and honestly this could be several years and up to a decade in the making.
STEEM could well become a currency in the traditional sense since it has a fast blockchain and zero transaction costs (at least directly to the one conducting it).
We shall see how that all evolves. I believe there will be hundreds of currencies used as money down the road...in fact, I can foresee multiple currencies in the same transaction.
I foresee STEEM becoming a currency in the traditional sense as it has everything needed by a transactional currency. Add to that a user base of several million and having a STEEM debit card might not be too far fetched. When atomic swaps become a reality any currency should be able to be used easily.
I agree with all that you wrote here.
A lot is possible depending upon the direction some people take it.
The great thing about the blockchain is that anyone with the know how can develop any of the things you discussed. It does not require permission or an agreement from a company.
If a programmer can create some of that stuff, like a debit card idea, then it is open season on that.