What is happening with Steem and cryptocurrencies?

So I'm out of the loop and checked the value of my wallet tonight and it is increasing at an outrageous pace. And I haven't been paying attention the past few months, so I'm confused.

Did Steemit suddenly get a massive rise in membership?

Or is this all linked to the sudden increase in the value of Bitcoin?

If it's the first, I'm incredibly excited. However, I'm afraid it's the latter, which is a terrifying future for Steemit. You see, a social network is unlikely to succeed at being social if it is also a gold rush. You can or could make a lot of money by holding Steem. I've made close to $1500 just by writing a few articles, and I'm sure people who had 10,000 or more steem are very happy right now. But when they go to cash in their payday, it'll crash the market and we will all lose value. This could be averted by everyone deciding to buy and hold on Steem, which is unlikely but possible due to the small size of the community.

But Bitcoin is massive and is currently being used as a safe haven currency by East Asian traders (Japanese and Chinese investors especially) in case SHTF scenarios go down in the financial markets. When that bubble pops, and all bubbles do, we will see a slump in cryptocurrency prices just as we're buying extra/more equipment/new typewriters for posting on Steem.

So someone point out a hopeful scenario to this good fortune, please.