Another question I have is clarification on the total supply reduction. Does this mean that the coins I currently have residing in my wallet will be reduced proportionately as well, or do they remain as the total supply that they presently represent.
Baudrate
Your BCR balance will remain the same, it's just future supply that is being reduced.
Your points about the chain are valid, there was so much new stuff that was tried in various iterations of v1 that it all got a bit tangled. v2 will be a fresh start and should resolve things.