No, when interest rate goes up for USD, there is more incentive to hold on to USD rather than an alternate currency (gold, cryptocurrency, etc) Therefore selling pressure is expected. In terms of trading environment, many traders are actually borrowing USD to trade thus when interest rates go up, they will need to reduce their holdings in order to reduce interest payment. This in return causes all other alternate currencies to go down in value. In BTC case, it is a bit different and conventional economic model does not apply to BTC because majority of the users of BTC are in a form of shady business or another.

The underground market supports the economy of BTC thus this is why you see quick recovery whenever there is a spike in sales volume. The drug lord and cyber scammers will not allow the BTC to drop too much in value as most of them are using it for 'business' purposes.

In Steem case, it will still take many years before there is wide support for it. Remember Rome was not build in a day.