... I guess in my mind Steemengine should not have the exclusive on anything, including tokens (even on practical side, SMT looks to be a different thing to me with way longer in the making). Things of value must stand on their own feet, which means stand up to a little competition. I think both can co-exist - but I'd expect some would disagree; I guess competition will sort it out, i.e. if SMT sux, it won't be used.

..in terms of price drops, it doesn't seem unique to Steem; so not sure it's a sinister as you elude to, but I take your point there is some unusual behaviour - maybe someone should make an app to show who is selling off what across whole chain, or does this already exist somewhere? (always so much new dev here).