It tries to solve two big problems. One is to ensure the continuity and integrity of the information provided in the smart contract from off-chain. The second is that smart contracts help large scales perform computational tasks that it would not be able to accomplish through on-chain bandwidth.
The token is both a utility and an administrative token, its value depends on the activities of the project ecosystem. And the team holds a comparatively few number of tokens, but the degree of overlap among foundation and core team members is relatively high.