Interesesting read. But I find it hard to understand...
I think you try to make to many points to quick. Let us break this down since you are onto something here in my opinion:

So there are (a) users, (b) a website and (c) content on that website.

1. The website is using a cryptocurrencies as a value quantification of quality in content, right? They do not just display their content anymore, but act as intermediaries (as you say) between the users and the value created by the content on that website.

2. Prior to the time of online exchanges you had to go to a broker to access the value of assests. In the digital era, those assest are digital assests like cryptocurrency, smart contracts or even quality content (like on steemit).

3. Especially for new users, the concept of a website that manages the quality of the content by allocating real value to it is hard to understand. And that is because cryptocurrencies are widely regarded as highly speculative assets. But they are more than this!

Is that right? What do you think? Let me know, if I got your point right :)