The biggest challenge currently (in my opinion) is that Steem has implemented all of these great improvements, but.. Binance, Bittrex, OpenLedger have been slow to upgrade their wallets/nodes so that traders can withdraw Steem after purchase.
I think this is severely holding the price down. Buyers become impatient and dump what they are unable to withdraw. We had a small rally the other day that has since been lost as traders are stuck unable to withdraw. Steem's current price is a STEAL. But, you have to be able to use it. :-/
I wrote a bit about it on my blog. I will post ETAs if I am able to determine any. If you have any insight on this, please let me know. Thank you.
RE: Future of cryptocurrency: war of utility tokens. How can Steem win the war which has lost current battles (i.e. low ranking).