I just saw another thread about a GPU miner (there are actually links to download it, screenshots from other people, etc.).
I was asking what happened because I was mining QRK and saw a huge drop in mined coins (related to difficulty), then saw a huge price increase.
A pump doesn't actually increase difficulty.
I think your FUD alert is FUD.
Difficulty was 100-150, now 2269? 20x times it's not increase difficulty?

You're misunderstanding. Of course it's an increase in difficulty, because there is an increase of hashing power, not because there is a said price pump on exchanges.