Siacoin (SC) price, performance and general information

Hey guys, wanted to get your take on this situation. I've been checking the network usage stats regularly, and every time I check the total storage number is way higher. We're up at 425TB right now and a 20% usage ratio, this is up huge from just a week ago. Is this actual organic growth, or is this a small group of enthusiasts uploading tons of data to test the network? Also wondering if Goobox or Filebase has shared any usage figures with the community.

Obviously the big moment we are all waiting for is when the network approaches 100% usage. Then storage buyers will need to pay more for storage, which (in theory) will attract more hosts once the bid is high enough. This should also (in theory) create a full blown ecosystem and organic demand for SC. Are we on the way towards this inflection point in 2019, or do we think more time is needed? Are there any other major code updates that are needed before Sia is ready for the big time?

I am using the latest AppImage version of the GUI wallet for Linux.

I seem to be more or less stuck around downloading block 206569. It is taking hours to more forward.

My consensus.db file is over 16GB.

Is there a way to show the wallet's transactions and balance without downloading the blockchain? Like Bitcoin and SPV wallets?