Your observation is interesting. The way that people use crypto-currency will determine its fate.
For this reason I believe STEEM will have a better long term fate than Bitcoin as it was designed to be a mechanism for curating content. The coin is doing something that STEEM holders want to see done.
Unfortunately, cyber currency (just like fiat currencies) are dependent on the willingness of people in the future to accept the coin. If people see the cyber-currency world as a scam; then they will not be willing to do transactions in the currency and the currencies might collapse.
People who want cyber-currency to succeed need to take a two pronged approach. People must work together to reduce the number of scams while also trying to create positive mechanisms for using the currency.