Thanks for destroying the Economy

I don't think giving banks fair notice would have been too much to ask, yes they might have trouble getting every single bank but they could have at least given the big ones a heads up and they could have passed the word along, it's not like the banks are secret even the dishonest ones want to be as visible as possible to attract depositors.

They have given fair notice. 22nd remember?

That begs the question: What is fair notice? Obviously we disagree that two weeks is adequate, so what do you feel would be fair?

Is there any length of time that would prevent these problems? I don't think so, personally, and I expect that had it been five times longer we would still see the same panic from those that disagree with the new policy.

[EDIT] Oh... You didn't mean giving the "banks" notice before the public notice, did you? If so, I can't agree with that at all, at all. That would have been a far bigger gaffe than any other I've ever seen LL make.

Fair notice to do what? What does informing the banks before informing the investors accomplish except give the investment funds a head start to fold up and dissappear, or play favoritism by giving certain investors disclosure and returns ahead of others, or any other number of unfavorable outcomes? The investment fund either has the liquidity or it does not. They have over a week as it is which is more notice than the casinos got (none). And how is it "fair" notice if they only tell the "big ones"?

They could have given 6 months warning and it wouldn't change a thing.

There would still be a run immediately after the announcement.

"Fair warning", in this case, is a non-issue.

Am I still the only one who finds "Banks in SL" to be silly and a quick way to lose money???

No.

This is one of those ballooning problems.

If they hadn't done it now, the pain to shut them down would have been higher later.


Amputate your toe today so you don't have to amputate your foot tomorrow.


Of course if they had acted when they should have it would have been removing an ingrown toenail.

But its too late for that.

seconded =P

Its good to remember the Original Poster was involved with running the WSE at one time by his own recent admission.

So definitely would seem to him that LL is coming for something that was a big part of his SL.

But you absolutely correct I think a lot of people have tunnel vision and think their personal SL experience is more than it is.

You are correct. L$ are now not even worth the bits they are printed on. I would be happy to safely dispose of any of these worthless things that you have lying around.

I'm sure this post will get overlooked, but here it goes anyway....

So, interest and dividends from financial institutions are now banned - in a virtual world where enforcement of the rules is reactive, not proactive - unless a RL financial institution puts their neck on the line.

This makes me ponder two possible futures:

A) The majority of good people, people who play by the rules, will not even attempt to open a bank or stock exchange because it's against the rules. Unscrupulous people, those who sneer at the rules, lie, cheat, and steal, will open banks and gladly take deposits until they get caught. Then they will simply abscond with the money. "Good" banks and exchanges won't even exist; not in the same way that they have prior to this new rule.

B) RL Financial institutions will step in, possibly even making a small amount of income from their legitimate banks and stock exchanges. This income, no matter how tiny, must be reported and completely documented to the IRS and Federal Reserve Bank. This income to banks may even be taxable, and will possibly lead the U.S. government to again consider ratifying a VAT-like tax on SL's U.S. residents.

I'm sure there are many, many other scenarios I have not yet considered.

QFT

To the OP: What is the issue?
EVERY SL bank PERIOD has been a ponzi/pyramid scheme. If you knew this, but thought you could cash out before the collapse but are complaining now, then you are showing yourself to be immoral. If you thought the banks were legitimate, you should be grateful that SL has banned illegal and immoral "banking" ponzi schemes.

To me, the fact that you think that shutting down scams is going to "destroy the economy" shows your mindset and views on the SL economy. The SL economy has always been propped up by content creators, value-added land barons and landlords, and service providers. The corrupt "banks," casinos and other get-rich-quick and morally questionable schemes have always been a minor and harmful part of the economy.

I fully expect the economy to be even stronger after the establishment of this policy. With less money-sucking and trust-diminishing scams, it is hard to see how less money will be circulated in legitimate transactions.

To the SL bank runners: shame on you. You deserve to have your RL names disgraced, and perhaps face criminal prosecution after your scamming.

In the event Second Life becomes so large as to affect US Tax and Tax enforcement Policy, Linden Labs will probably be overjoyed.

Is SL gonna collapse just like it did after the gambling ban?

I was and it's one of my biggest regrets in SL ever getting involved with Luke and the WSE, they incidentally would not be on my list of good institutions to invest with although I believe Hope Capital is a registered institution in Melbourne Australia so if they don't already have the paperwork it'll probably be easier for them to get it.

SL is like a cockroach, nothing can kill it not even nuclear war.

The bots would live on

People tend to think their SL is a bigger chunk than maybe it is.

Like gambling they thought they were a huge chunk of the economy.

Truth is I doubt even 1 in 10 people in SL used any of these banks.

a totally unscientific sampling from my friends only yielded one person who'd cashed out of ginko a long time ago.

I'm relieved that none of my friends I talked to will be losing money.

Wish it could be that for everyone

My partner cashed out yesterday by coincidence lol... shes one of 3 people I know (In a friends list of probably 80) that uses or ever has used, a bank in SL

This proves my point that most people are ignorant of the facts and are taken in by the fearmongering people who lost money at Ginko, not every bank is a ponzi as not every ponzi takes the form of a bank (both in SL and RL incidentally) Just because Ginko was a ponzi doesn't mean that they're all out to get you, there are people out there who are honest and not scammers, you just have to do the research, this is a cop out both by you and the other people who share your view and by LL who are taking responsibility while at the same time denying to take responsibility for the poor decisions of their customers.



Ask any person who had an IPO to fund their successful business in SL if they agree and they won't, the exchanges have made quite a few content creation businesses possible, too many to name here, by giving them the initial startup funds so that they could develop.



The economy probably will recover like it did after the gambling ban but in the short term, if gambling were legal, I'd bet that it takes a hit when nobody has money to buy created content or services.



Again, your making a huge and mistaken assumption that every one of them are scammers, that's almost as stupid as me saying that all of them are honest, they aren't all honest by any means but some are honest and some are scammers.

Wow. Just wow. Guess you never had any classes in economics, huh?

Ok, let's say I want to open a shop selling Aminom Marvin bobble-heads. I have one working model, but no land for a shop, and no lindens for advertising. To generate the lindens, I contact an SL bank or stock exchange. I present them the Aminom bobble-head and my business plan. I tell them how much I expect to spend on the store and advertising, how much I plan to charge per bobble-head, and how many I plan to sell based on past experience.

If it's a bank, they make a loan, with interest rates for me to pay back. If it's a stock exchange, they issue shares for me to pay back, and dividends on any profit I make.

That is how legitimate banks and stock exchanges work. Ginko was a ponzi scheme, and people foolishly threw money at it without educating themselves - I imagine that's where your particular venom comes from. However, there are good banks and exchanges in SL. It's a horrible shame that a few ignorant investors have brought down an entire industry in SL because they refused to take responsibility for not educating themselves.

--Edit-- Gordon types faster than I do.

I would be curious to know exactly how many sl residents actually used a bank? I for one dont know a single person in world that has and when I even brought this up today they would say "What does that mean?" I suppose it doesnt affect as many people as some might think...

Yeah Aminom

By calling them all Ponzis you fail to recognize all the variations and complexities of the scams and bad fund management out there.