When it’s a question of
money, everybody is of the same religion.
Voltaire
Voltaire
I’m
blogging about a topic in Second Life (SL) that I haven’t
written about in a while and it’s money. (Yep, figured that would get everyone’s
attention. After sex that’s always a
good one!) In particular, I’m writing
about bitcoin. The virtual currency
that’s been in the press
a lot lately.
Bitcoin is a recent Internet phenomena. (Alright, maybe 2008 ain’t “recent” in
Internet terms but you get the idea.) Supposedly,
it was engineered by a developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, which is supposedly a fictitious name. The idea being to create a virtual currency
independent of any governmental or regulatory authority. Comes in handy if you’re a drug dealer,
terrorist, or American Libertarian. OK,
that may be judgmental, there’re probably good reasons for this like you live
in a dictatorship and need discrete funds for your revolution or afraid a government
might confiscate your monies.
The recent financial crisis in Cyprus seems to have revived interest in bitcoin as a
hedge against confiscation of monies by governments or devaluation. This is turn seems to generated a flurry of
media articles about bitcoin.
Naturally, when something happens in Real Life (RL),
there’s a follow on effect in SL. Wagner Au recently posted an
interesting story on his blog in which he talked about the
implications arising for virtual currencies like Linden Dollars because of
increasing government
scrutiny of currencies like bitcoin.
All
this got me thinking about if I could find bitcoin in SL. Seemed reasonable to me. After all, SL is a virtual world. Stands to reason that other virtual
currencies could be found inworld. Why
another currency is needed in SL is another question but who knows? (Would Linden Lab ever confiscate Linden
Dollar balances?) Seems the FBI has long
considered SL to be a hotbed
of money laundering. They also think it’s
a great
place for RL gangs to hang out. Don’t believe me? Check out their website.
So, using
SL’s handy dandy search function, I go looking for bitcoin inworld. Turns out there’s a fair bit (no pun
intended) of bitcoin activity going on.
There’s a user group dedicated to the currency as
well as a couple of currency exchanges. There
are a few references to bitcoin mining whatever that is. (Don’t worry, I’ll try and find out.) I find a link to a website where it’s possible to trade
in Linden Dollars, bitcoin, Euro’s, and US Dollars in addition to a variety of
other SL financial transactions. (I need
to spend more time looking over the financial services industry inworld.)
I drop in
to visit The
Rock Trading Currency Exchange. It
reminds me of any one of a number of faceless bank branches scattered across
America’s suburbs. All polished metal
and marble with lots of glass. Currency
transactions are available. A bank
guard, a bot, stands stiffly in a corner.
(Must be something valuable around whenever there’s a guard.)
Data
boards flash prices for the different currencies. I’m not sure what folks would do with bitcoin
inworld. I’ve only ever seen prices
denominated in Linden Dollars. Linden
balances can be held with Linden Lab in SL.
I’m assuming that people keep their balances with the exchange. An interesting concept. Something else for me to check out in the
future.
So, I find
bitcoin in SL. I’m not sure what people
do with it or even what its future is. Given
the inferences on Wagner Au’s blog and those on Alex
Kadochnikov‘s blog there may be some
changes afoot for Linden Dollars and bitcoin.
Maybe depending on how the global financial crisis is resolved will
determine their fates.
I’ve
included a few pictures from my visits to the inworld financial institutions, The Rock
Trading Company and GMG Financial
Center, should anyone be curious about these locations.
As
always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk
with a stranger who was passing through their lives.
I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on
my blog or
e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com
.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Photo No. 1 The Rock Trading Currency Exchange
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Photo No. 1 The Rock Trading Currency Exchange
Photo No. 2 The
Rock Trading Security Guard
Photo No. 3 The
Rock Trading – Bitcoin Trading Board
Photo No. 4 The
Rock Trading – ATM
Photo No. 5 The
Rock Trading Lobby
Photo No. 6 The
Rock Trading Bitcoin Exchange
Photo No. 7 The
Rock Trading Bitcoin Exchange II
Photo No. 8 GMG
Financial Center – Bitcoin Trading Board
Photo No. 9 GMG
Financial Center – Payment Options
Photo No. 10 GMG
Financial Center Bank Floor
