I just noticed the monthly payment in my SmartCash wallet, and am even more convinced that crypto community is integral to the success of any coin. It wasn't a large amount (I pretty much just wanted to test out SmartCash with the minimum), but the experience was eye opening.
The concept of being rewarded for simply holding a balance for one month, while at first seeming inflationary, now makes me think of the Universal Basic Income movement. The idea that if peoples' basic needs are met, and they are free to explore items of interest and contribute to the community in ways that may not be 'monetizeable', certainly has its merits. Of course the challenge will be trying to engage the community into positive activity - and not simply 'veg out' due to no perceived need to work. Ultimately work should be rewarded, but in the era of ever increasing automation, we will need to find a solution for the majority of people who will have all products and services made for them by machines.
The bloated welfare system, or even a large portion of the criminal economy can surely be reduced if people received a respectable income, and in turn felt like productive members of society. It would open up further activity in non-paying activities like volunteerism (and not just for the sake of networking in hopes of getting a job one day).
In an age where we are drowning in information, yet kept in the dark in so many ways, there must be a better way of organizing our economic incentives to capture social value. The alternatives, where a world with growing population struggles to compete for resources, is not something to look forward to. Indeed, it makes one want to try and start a colony on Mars...where things like Steemit and SmartCash will be a staple of course!