The other thing I didn't get from the whitepaper is...can these nodes be setup on a basic VPS? Or due to the high storage demands, does this require a specialized server or expensive VPS package?
You certainly can run a node using a VPS, however, when this becomes available and is profitable, then the market will react to this such that it will become unprofitable to run a VPS.
That's when you start thinking about where the cheapest place to co-locate. That's when you start investing in hardware that is designed for this stuff.
Due to the decentralized nature of this, it is indeed likely that Safecoin may become the cheapest form of cloud storage in the marketplace. It may not be the best performing, however it would protect privacy.
Was contemplating backing the truck up in the IPO, glad I did not. MasterXchange is not a very liquid exchange and there is a lot of opportunity to acquire more shares through trading.