Steem does make sense as its own currency and i'll tell you why.
You can readily move value out of other currencies like ETH and BTC into Steem Power - this is somewhat like seeing Steem as a sidechain of value. Its value is floating and some may not like that, Steem distributed currency freely to its new users, it could be worse done. The main advantage here is that Steem has it's own chain, and it can handle internal movement of currency in and out of wallets.
Sure, wallets may have security problems, but that is typical of a new project or website. There isn't any reason to be angry at Steem since they are starting with their own currency ... if you were holding BTC in here the community would go to town about any hack/crack of someones wallet. I look forward to this site have multiple wallets once they get their security practices in order, multi-sig, 2FA, time locks.
Main thing is that the mainstream media is dying fast and we need to monetise people who do their own reporting work.