Making an example out of Ginko...

... although maybe not in the sense you might now think.

My question is:

Does anyone know of a succinct write-up of the entire "Ginko situation", beginning from when they were still a viable financial institution at their original high rates, right down to the present bonds emission?

By "succinct" I mean that the text should be no longer than two pages if I print it out. Ideally, it should also be aimed at an audience that is well versed in RL banking professionally, but doesn't have the slightest idea about online words in general and SL in particular.

The reason for this has to do with one of the things I do in RL: I teach English at a private investment bank. Some of my students are fund managers and departmental heads and currently receive most of their training in conversation practice. Most of them have been with me for about a year and a half.

After this time, it gets a bit stale to have them discuss the current state of their investments or the amazing things they have befallen their departments week after week, so every once in a while I try to get them to talk about economic topics even if they do not have a direct relation to their current work.

Using such a text as an introduction to their opinions on financial transactions in a virtual world might make an interesting change that would still allow them to use the special langage they are being trained in.

This is more of a subject for an ethics class, since there has never been any significant disclosure of the performance of the "investments."

I know, but I'm actually not interested in how the investments as such performed. Since I am not invested in Ginko, I don't need investment disclosure, either (most of these investments wouldn't mean much to my students anyway).

I'd rather like to what what Ginko was offering in the beginning, how the situation developed, and how, after the "run", various measures were taken.

you find a lot here and this entire site could be interesting for class:
https://www.wselive.com/

"vB code is On".. no it isn't

you would have to go through the forums and sl "newspapers" and make one but here is a shot

it was born in 2004 and put itself forward as a bank and said it was a place to stick your spare lindens lying around and they could collect interest. It ran and then more and more people stuck their money in. On day something happened it was blamed on casino closure but there were enough withdrawals to make is so that there was not enough cash to continue to pay for withdrawals when they occured. ^^ Then all of a sudden due to the trouble the owner says no its not a bank its a high risk invenstment fund. Then instead of liquidating assets to pay people who's money he held back since by his own words he was a bank and that is what they do until they have zero assets left and then its over he decided to force everyone to take his bonds cause no one was actualy buying his bonds cause the bank was in trouble (even though it wasn't called a bank) and then he closed his doors ^^

To be honest with what has happened you will need to assemble it yourself can even stick it on the wiki i suppose there are articles covering ginko all over the place. Its not realy a lot to tell the guy didn't define his business properly and changed the rules mid stream and then changed them again and by the end it was looking to be a definite ponzi scheme because the only withdrawals that were successfully recovered were due to new accounts opening. People depositing in the last week or so just simply had their money swallowed up. He claims to have liquidated a few assets but no one knows if this is true. He refuses to disclose full investment information now that he has classified himself as a high risk investment fund in the form of a portfolio. He claims to have done nothing wrong..

People are now trading bonds that may be backed by pocket lint and some hot air in an efort to get their money back but since know one knows is there is much in the way of assets beyond what can be found on their own within sl or that he will reveal the fact is the assets that could be found are waaay less then what he owed

so meh that's it really not much detail because he refused to give any

yep here in sl too......

The real question that remains unanswered is where Ginko reinvested the deposit funds. In order to pay out the level of interest they were paying the original funds had to be invested someplace with a reality-defying return. Where were the original funds invested? Until that question gets answered, it remains just another Ponzi scheme.

Conviently Nick P wont have to tell anyone now .. Since all the debts getting converted.

You....could ask Mr P himself to sum it up for you? Would give at least one side of it?
You would possibly have to explain the concept of the whole LindEx first....

His story would leave out 90% of the details and then hed go

'See?? It wasnt a Ponzi !'

well, you can always sell your ginko shares if you have any... after the split lol

The Ginko leaf is unique in nature, insofar as all veins on the leaf go to the stem, never forming a network as seen on all other leaves.

Ginko side effects and cautions include: possible increased risk of bleeding, gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, and restlessness. If any side effects are experienced, consumption should be halted immediately.

*sigh* at the moment I'm getting these side-effects, just trying to log into SL so I can resume building on my project.

-Atashi

You left out -

"And you could lose some or all of the money you invest"

I think virtuallyblind.com is covering it quite well:

http://virtuallyblind.com/2007/02/23/business-law-journal-analyzes-ginko-financial-as-possible-ponzi-ginko-annual-yield-down-60-in-16-months

I like that lol

Well ... He should at least be able to give me the original interest rates ... I got into this at about the time when Ginko stopped withdrawals (there was an early thread here). Remember I don't need the backgrounds for that intro text, I need the numbers of the basic setup and how the interest rates then developed. I will certainy not offer any comments until the students do so themselves.

And I'm pretty sure my bankers have a certain notion of what a LindEx SHOULD be... would be fun to compare that to SL "reality" ...

I am aware, though, that I would kind of need to simplify certain SL-specific terms, such as avatars. I would need to explain lindens and the concept of "play-money", though, if only to explain the LindEx.

And ah, those Virtually Blind things are good - thanks everone! 0.19, that was the number I was looking for ...

See, there's a problem with the basic premise:

No one has been able to conclusively prove that Ginko was *EVER* a "viable financial institution."

I used the term specifically to not have to use "bank".

The problem is, by all accounts it was never "viable" - much like a seven-legged calf, it may have functioned for a while, but ultimately collapsed for lack of proper structure.

I get your point. Should have been "regarded as a viable ..."

Having had prior interactions with one of the Ginko managers years before SL, back when it was GinkoTec and on the text-based MU*'s (GinkoMUCK was one of theirs), I can vouch for all the side effects Desmond mentioned, and add in 'delusional arrogance' as well as 'pains in the ass to bystanders'.

I want to see a flow chart that documents the train of thought all the people that invested in that shit when they decided to go for it up until when they got hosed.

THAT would be educational!

VOMITING and DIARHHOEA? Seriously?

Raynor, just make sure YOU understand how the LindEx works....