Steem would have to become an NFT. There has to be a means of determining the timelock state of any given Steem at any point so being an NFT would allow for that. I am all for having a variable levels of "permissions" dependent upon the timelock status of an account's holdings. Those that are fully vested for the current timeframe would have full permissions and with each step down in time, (say 2 weeks) permissions would be lost such as voting for witnesses, DAO, etc.

While tempting I would much rather have the SMTs actually get finished and forked before the focus moves elsewhere.