So basically the ones with the most optimized toys get all the goodies in the field? It'll be easy to make profits in the cryptocurrency market if that's the case. I'm pretty sure crypto trading bots already have those elements in their algorithms, although they cannot execute fast enough unlike HFT bots. Tons of optimization would be required to achieve the numbers of what the stock market HFT offers, and it's no easy feat IMO.
Biggest challenge relies on exchanges themselves. They have to propose such technology to let crypto traders act as fast as usual HFT traders do.