pros:
seems semi-fair distribution (top 10 adresses still have too many coins)
easy to mine
nice increase in value lately
cons:
low masternode reward
not enough exchange
retardedly large drop of reward from year 1 to year 2
While I appreciate your analysis, I would like to make a few observations of my own.
While it would appear that the distribution may be a bit lopsided towards the top, keep in mind that there are quite a few holders who's total coins would rival some of the top spots, but their coins are in different addresses locked up in masternodes. Also, in the interest of clarity and transparency, D7SP47ZN3ZGdrVsAvmG2f3CQF6Ca6grdLX is the general fund address we will be using to pay for a wide range of products and services aimed to help advance DarkNet.
As far as it being easy to mine, it is actually the quark coin with the highest difficulty that I could find right now, it has been that way for a while, and I expect that to remain the case for the foreseeable future. That is speaks directly to the security of the network, and should be seen as a pro.
There have been some price spikes in both directions, we are still in our infancy, and one should expect to see similar volatility for a bit more, once we have become a bit more established things should smooth out. While we are not looking for a huge selloff with a corresponding plunge in price, the day to day price is one of the things we care the least about. We are focused on working on improving the coin in tangible ways, with successes in that endeavor one would expect a rise in price, but that is not where we are focusing our energy. You will hear very little talk of the price from us, and encourage the community to practice the same. To my mind, there is nothing that is more of a turnoff than learning of a new coin, going to their thread, and seeing nothing but a bunch of mindless shills crying "to the moon", "buy now, last cheap coins", "the price will rise tomorrow", "dump on me", etc. Anyone with a few active brain cells can see those posts for what they are.
Low masternode rewards, if you were to buy the coins to start a masternode right now and all things remained the same you would ROI in 100 days. That is now that there are over 700 masternodes, at one point ROI was around 40 days. I think that in and of itself suggests that masternode rewards are not too low, I may be missing something. Also, if masternode rewards were higher two of your listed pros would be minimized. The coins would be more condensed into the hands of larger holders. Most masternode owners are not selling their rewards, but saving them to create additional masternodes. Also the ease of mining as you perceive it would be reduced, as there would be less reward per block going to the miner, therefore a lower return at a given hashrate.
"Not enough exchange" could be taken a few ways, I think you meant exchanges, and on that point, you may be right. I really don't have a solid viewpoint one way or the other there. Personally, I am fine with what we have, and wouldn't be too upset if nothing changed. I think the idea people have about being on every exchange imaginable is the exposure provided by that. I can't see any other benefit, but again, I could be missing something. While exposure is great, at this point we are focused on improving the utility of DarkNet, as things progress exposure will come from word of mouth advertising, which I think is the best type of advertisement. When your buddy tells you about how great this new product is it has a much stronger effect than when you just happen to come across it in the store. I also think that getting on every possible exchange puts us at risk of spreading ourselves too thin, it would be better to have solid daily volume on some hole in the wall exchange than mediocre volume on the worlds greatest exchange. Again, the whole idea is not something I have spent a lot of time thinking about, I could be totally wrong in my views, don't hesitate to correct me.
The large drop in rewards that you see is the result of community discussions of the best way to reduce inflation after the start of PoS without causing sharp price swings. We will be submitting a budget proposal in the next few days to get concrete support figures for these numbers, if you think you have a better idea, by all means, submit your own budget proposal along with supporting arguments. As has been said before, we will pilot this ship wherever the community steers it.
Please don't take any part of this post to argumentative, This is just how I see things, I have an open mind that can be easily changed when confronted with evidence of the errors in my thinking. It is only through real, meaningful, conversation with many people from different backgrounds that we can make the most of this project. We encourage everyone to contribute in whatever fashion they can.