The value of steem, just as any other currency, is based on an implicit social consensus - a group of people agree to coordinate their actions based on signals transmitted through a "unit of account": without talking to me, if you write something of quality, you expect me to "upvote" your content - that is the implicit "social contract", the unwritten "rules of the game.

This "game" generate more value as more people engage in it and bringing more people in requires predictability. Which pretty much means stability and precludes "quick hacks". These tend to generate mistrust: "today they did this, who knows what they'll do tomorrow?"