What would it take to run 50+ alt coins as well as Bitcoin daemons on say a VPS or even dedicated server?
Is it possible to create a payment system with this many currencies supported, all from one server? Or would you need multiple?
This is theoretical, but I want to put it into practical use in the future
The best service to ask something like this would be Shapeshift. They will give you a better answer than a theoretical one because their services is based on accommodating and holding many cryptocurrencies. Plus they have to make everything running well and be stable every day, all year long without any down time if possible.
Search the service announcement thread for Shapeshift and start asking there. From there maybe the could refer you to their tech people or maybe even their developers.