The difficulty algorithm "int64 nSubsidy = (1111 / (pow((dDiff+1),2)))" would have clamped that down but the difficulty didn't raise fast enough (see point #1) to restrict total minting to more reasonable levels.
These are the facts. Code doesn't lie.
What you are missing is that:
1. Xcoin was specified to adjust difficulty every 60 minutes (12 5-minute blocks), and barring any other issue this would have slowed down mining reasonably quickly, as you said.
2. However, without explanation, the code that was actually released adjusted difficulty only once every 576 blocks, 48 times more slowly.
3. Xcoin also had a "bug" that greatly increased the amount of coins per block. It should have started at 100, not 500, and once the difficulty started to increase, it should have dropped lower still, not stayed at 500. This was not fixed until block 4500.
4. Subsequent supply cuts reduced the per-block reward to the current 3, which is <1/166 of the reward in most of the first 4500 blocks. By contrast LTC only recently reduced its per-block reward to 1/2 of the reward in the initial blocks.
These are the main reasons that the instamine ended up being so enormous, especially relative to the current supply, not the normal ramp up of difficulty that causes a very small instamine in most normal cases.
I notice this too. Why isn't diff increasing?
- 5 minute block target
- 6 Confirms per transaction
- Difficulty re-targets every 60 minutes
- Block reward controlled by moores law ( 1111 / (diff+1 ^ 2))
( 1111 / (0.005+1 ^ 2)) = 92.54477301
( 1111 / (1.00001+1 ^ 2)) = 85.46147272
( 1111 / (3.44635085+1 ^ 2)) = 71.92637347
( 1111 / (5.44+1 ^ 2)) = 63.70412844
The block rewards should have start close to 100 coins per block and should have gotten smaller each time the difficulty goes up and the reward should increase as the difficulty goes down.
Everyone using the linux based version please update your source from GitHub! I fixed the code that is causing the strange block rewards and it goes active at block 4500! If you do not upgrade you'll be left behind!
Just update from GitHub here: https://github.com/evan82/xcoin