I may be completely wrong here, but with the arrests that have been happening lately to people running crypto exchanges where one can exchange fiat for crypto, suddenly licensing becomes a big issue when fiat is involved. Since Steemit is based in the US, I can only assume these laws would also apply to them, and I don't really see Steemit as much of an exchange, but that Steem is simply something TO BE exchanged.

Here's the most recent one I heard of:
https://www.coindesk.com/michigan-man-charged-unlawful-bitcoin-exchange/