Well! Ultimately, our data service would be its own blockchain.

Then why do you not go and BUILD your own blockchain? If your group has 700 million dollars to "play with". Oh--but then you would already have preset rules for people joining your blockchain, and people would not join because of YOUR rules, so you would never have very many users. Is that why you are trying to tell me and other people on steemit how to, who, when and why to vote for?