that's nice for people who are otherwise familiar with cryptocurrencies. A large portion of our users are learning about crypto through Steemit. So, if you start selling accounts, those who are new to the whole process are going to be gone fast and that would be the majority of the people online. Do you really want to push that market away?
Anyone who has been around the site even a while is aware that there are a lot of individuals holding high numbers accounts simply to attempt to manipulate the system. If a delay getting signed up is the first step towards putting a stop to this behaviour, then so be it.
It's already possible to create new accounts as much as you want if you know how to do it. This is a blockchain where no permissions are asked.
For those who don't want to or can't use other cryptocurrencies, Steemit should give free accounts. But there are lots of people who can buy an account very easily, I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be possible and even encouraged, given how bad the current system is.