the most notable part of this for me is that instead of working on their main business, they are veering off in an unrelated direction just because it's potentially lucrative. Does it mean they've given up on storage as a business to go after?
The point of Obelisk ASICs is to increase the security of Sia; it's not unrelated.
Also potentially concerning is that whenever the PoW algorithm changes, Obelisk will have a head start, since they're run by the people deciding what the PoW algorithm will be.
Ha. I really hope we start seeing some truly useful and widely adopted decentralized apps, but everyone seems to get stuck in get-rich-quick schemes. I can't blame people for going where the money is. But this is starting to look bad for blockchain tech. Eventually the economy has to be about something other than buying in and hoping the next guy buys in for more or trying to make more and more effective mining hardware.
they sold a token. Right? so, people who bought this token can probably sue them.