1) DigiByte block timing will increase from 30 seconds to 15 seconds.
Don't you mean decrease? When do you expect it to be ready Jared?
Hi Altcoinfanatic, You've asked a lot of questions recently. I'm sure that Jared will address them the next time he has a chance to respond to posts. Welcome to our discussion. I'm going to do my best to answer a couple of your questions:
The Digispeed hard fork was announced earlier this year. They are working on it. It is complex and Jared has stated several times that they are taking their time to get everything right. There is not yet an official date for when it will be released ... I'm anticipating late this year early next year.
About the language in item 1 of the Digispeed announcement. "DigiByte block timing will increase from 30 seconds to 15 seconds." Because there will be more blocks per minute I think it's fine to describe it as an increase.
If you look at item #5, it clearly states that the DGB rewards will stay on track. In other words, the overall mining rewards will not change. I assume if there are more blocks - at a greater frequency - the mining rewards per block will be reduced proportionally. For instance, if there are twice as many blocks per minute, each block has half as much reward, but the overall rewards stay the same.
I'm not really sure how to answer the question about the mining rate doubling up? DGB is a great coin to mine. I suppose ofter the DigiSpeed fork, maybe the mining rate will increase. However, technically speaking, the numbers of miners is not related to the block timing.
A little history about the node map and digistats: In early spring 2015, esotericizm began working on the node map. It was a project that he was working on in his free time. Then, in late May people began work on the DigiStats site. Esotericizm also was part of the team working on DigiStats. Therefore, they decided to include the node map in Digistats instead of having 2 different sites. Digistats launched (officialy) about 2 weeks ago. HOWEVER, at the time of the launch, they made an announcement that the node map and certain aspects of the block explorer were not fully implemented, and would be finalized soon.
As a result, the node map on DigiStats indicates that there are 14 active nodes. But, it's not accurate. It's not fully implemented. There are way more than 14 active nodes. It's hard to say exactly how many nodes there are right now ... but the number was right around 3000, or slightly higher.
I have nothing but respect for the guys working on DigiStats. It's a huge project and requires enormous development labor and upkeep. But, just to be clear, the current node map on DigiStats is not accurate. So, your friends who are telling you that there are only 14-20 active nodes are using bad information. If I could give you an exact number, I would ... but, I think it's safe to assume we are still around 3000 nodes (give or take), and I'm sure that DigiStats will be a great long term benefit to DGB.
You also asked for transparency about the $250,000 investment. And, you asked if Jared would disclose the details of the investment to trusted members of the community. I guess I don't quite understand what you mean? Like, are you asking if he'll send them a copy of the check so they can tell you it was real? I don't believe that it is Jared's responsibility to disclose his private business details with anyone. Buying a few DGB or mining DGB does not give any of us the right to demand or expect that Jared share his private business plans with us. Jared is one of them most engaged, dedicated, and professional devs of any altcoin. I think he already pretty much sets the bar in that arena.
Jared disclosed the basic information of the investment to the whole community in late 2014. He, and the DGB development team formed a strategic partnership with Tofu Gear in Hong Kong. One of the first things they did is release an iOS wallet in the Apple store. They have been working on the DGB Gaming (the DGB Gaming Wallet is currently available). And, as I understand it, those are just the beginning. They are working and developing. There are some really exciting opportunities and projects for the future of DGB.