The difficulty has decreased 4X.
Hashpower has been re-allocated to the chain.


http://cryptoexplorer.udf.me/explore.php?height=42335&cid=67&coinname=Bytecoin

block 42335
difficulty 1083438.2950277   
time August 11, 2014, 2:05 pm

block 42336
difficulty 270859.57375692
time August 11, 2014, 3:27 pm

block 43214
difficulty 270859.57375692
time August 12, 2014, 12:24 am

calculated network hashrate today:
(878 blocks * 24 hours / 9 hours) / 144 blocks * 270859 difficulty * 2**32 / 600 --> 31.52 TH/s



calculated network hashrate last difficulty epoch:
block 40320  February 7, 2014, 6:07 am through block 42335

185 days, 8 hours --> 26,687 blocks expected.
2016 / 26,687 * 1,083,438 * 2**32 / 600e9 --> 585 GH/s