Correct in what the target is currently. Difficulty is making sense if you use those numbers in the math. The block count is way ahead of where we should be with that target time
Ahh, I think I get it - the diff retarget is using the current bock height versus expected block height to determine next difficulty, rather than current network block time. That explains the huge diff jump, we *should* be at block ~4400 right now
So, this coin is pretty much a clone of BTC, with 10 min block times and 2-week retarget, just with different rewards structure.
My vote goes to a fork asap. The much, much longer block times not only affect mining but all transactions on the network - BEN is now looking at 30+ minutes per confirmation which will not stand a chance against other coins if the plan is to use BEN for purchasing power through payment providers such as Paysha.
I vote for forking back to the announced coin parameters of 64 second block times, and a much shorter diff retarget, something closer to 60 blocks (~1 hour) rather than 2016. Just my $0.02
This would affect people trying to buy a soda with it, yes. However, retailers and merchants are used to 2-3 days for transfers via ACH. If it were to stay at 10 minute blocks, it would allow Paysha to process payments earlier than 6 confirmations. Also, in the long run, 10 minute block times are much more secure than 64 seconds. The other 3 coins are secured by large hashrates, Benjamins doesn't have that yet, so the longer block times would help it stay safer, if anyone cares what I think about the situation
It doesn't matter to us either way, but it is our responsibility to give pros and cons for both options as an outside observer. It's pretty close to Bitcoin's numbers, but Bitcoin also started with just CPU mining, so it is a fairly interesting idea showing the impact ASIC miners would have had on Bitcoin when it first launched
Either way, we will still process Benjamins payments, whether it forks or not
I agree 2-3 days for ACH transfers is pretty normal, but that's more on the back-end, not at the point-of-sale.
Right now BEN is looking at 30+ minutes per confirmation just to send coins. That means if you go to a website, buy stuff, checkout and pay with BEN, the merchant can't know whether he was paid for something like 2-3 hours (length of time for 4-6 confirmations). It would be like if you swiped your card at Best Buy and the checkout clerk had to wait for 3 hours before she knew your card was approved. That just can't work.
Cryptocurrencies will probably never offer the same "instant approval" that credit card processing does, but waiting 15 minutes or so is a pretty acceptable compromise in trade for much, much lower fees and much, much less regulatory hassle. 30 minutes per confirmation just isn't going to work.
At current network hashrates BEN will be stuck with 30 minute confirmations for the next 42 days. As the days go on, unless BEN's exchange prices go up dramatically, this will increase to 60 minutes or longer, as more miners bail due to the extremely low profitability of this coin. It will be months before the diff adjusts again and gets us back down to "normal" 10-minute block times.
If anything - I think this goes to show (yet again) that the original BitCoin parameters do *NOT* work in today's world of high-powered ASIC's and drive-by miners. BTC is only able to stay alive with these parameters due to its massive network hashrate - it's just too big to be swung one way or another.
Today's coins *require* faster confirmation times and faster difficulty adjustments, or they fail. EVERY semi-successful coin I have been involved with over the past 6 months that has started with > 1 hour diff retarget has eventually been forced to implement KGW or retarget after every block. Unfortunately that's just the way it is now
Keeping it at 10 minutes would make our life a lot easier, I should say, since all 4 coins on the site would be the same block times
If a fork were to happen, I would suggest merged mining. That would speed it up quite a bit, but destroy the price most likely. Otherwise I wouldn't bother changing it, but it's not up to me. I don't think they are really trying to be the new groundbreaking coin, but more of a solid system that can be used for payments