I think someone has succeeded in fpga/asic bitcoin flooding
That seems to be a common misconception present in this thread.
As for an ASIC, I highly doubt anyone is foolish enough to drop >$1,000,000 of their own cash to have developed one. Also, it takes a
long time from start to finish. Bitcoins weren't all that popular a year ago. They still aren't (outside of our little bubble).
Very true, but what if there was already a source of something equivalent to high speed SHA-256 ASIC.