What block are we currently on? I wasn't around yesterday so I just saw there was another mandatory update just now. The block explorer is still running 1.0.2.9 so it might need to be reindexed. Compiling 1.0.3.1 right now.
I just noticed about it once you mentioned about block explorer, I thought it was updated, and I went to check the block height, it seems like 30 blocks away from current height. And no wonder it shows block reward of full 20000, if I'm not mistake it should be 199xx...
Currently the reward on the new chain is actually way less than that. I'm not sure if it has to do with blocks being mined too quickly? We are actually having a soft fork but it seems it will be successful as I think most of the hashing power is now switching to the new chain.
Yes sort of, the 7 minute block targets are being met accurately currently, but our rule regarding Difficulty subsidy adjustment, with the new algorithm being harder to solve, since the difficulty has jumped to 293 (from .05) is causing a lower reward. The wallet has a protection mechanism that pays out BBP per a chart compiled in GetBlockSubsidy, the higher the diff the lower the reward. Right now, we have gone from a 20,000 subsidy all the way down to 9000 subsidy.
As far as my thoughts on this, I personally would have preferred the 16,000 subsidy range at this level, with 9000 being reserved for Very high diffs (maybe a 2930 diff) IE one magnitude higher.
But since it is the way it is, I think we should leave it, and maybe make a slight adjustment when the sactuaries go live, or when the next mandatory occurs, if necessary, as by then we will know more about our popularity, demand on the pools, and will have multiple pools.
At this point we are harder to mine, and have less reward per block, so the exchange being a free market should take that into account and BBP may increase in value.