Ginko summary

I've wasted the past 2 hours reading a little into the Ginko financial tragedy. I'm still curious about these things though: After Ginko announced their shutdown and converted all lindens to bonds, what happened? Were people able to retrieve their original investment? And whatever happened to this Nicholas guy? Was he banned from SL? (I hope I never have to meet him or I would seriously curse him out)

Suprisingly

The bonds turned out to be worthless.

Total loss for whomever was involved.

As to the ponzi guy, nothing has been heard.

He swore it would all work out...he'd take care of it.......and was never heard of again.

Some bonds sold for 25 cents on the dollar initially. I'm not sure how high they ever got before they stopped offering them on the WSE. He was supposed to pay out a dividend but never did. I know of one person who did get back about 30% of their investment before the whole thing collapsed.

I don't think he was banned. He did not do anything against the TOS so there was no reason for LL to ban him. One can only hope the thousands he stole are not bringing him any happiness.

Would be nice if LL would post an actual amount, since I've heard estimates from USD$50k to $USD570k.

And.. I suspect he's quite happy, and has at least one alt still in SL.

you can read a good summary of the goings on at virtuallyblind.com

yes, I tried reading Virtuallyblind but it's just too much to read. Simpler to ask.

Wow, that's sad. And when you read Nicho's past responses on this forum to people's endless interrogations, he actually comes off as a no-nonsense guy who diligently believes in his "mission".

Off-topic:
What about this FirstMeta "credit card"? Can it be trusted?

That was spin.

Anything that involves giving your money to another avatar without immediately getting a product in return should be viewed with high skepticism.

I wish people would stop being this trusting when it comes to money. Credit cards and banks do NOT have the same status here as they have in RL - because there is literally NO ONE behind those "institutions" in SL who regulates them. It is just one user who says he is a bank/cc company.

*in a trust me voice* Loan me money, I'll give you 10% interest

It would be better than the 25% I am currently paying on a credit card since I can't refinance my house at the moment. (The card messed up auto pay and then raised my rate)

There are ways to make money in SL and RL that do work, but SL bank's won't work until we figure out how to have both "confirmed identity" and still be anonymous.

But the Meta card seems to work by actually giving you money upfront..... then of course you pay interest..... but what happens if you don't and create a huge debt and never repay them - do they come after you IRL or something?

(their website is firstmeta.com)

Actually you're wrong, Uvas. Once Nick defaulted on the GPB bonds and officially gave up all bonds were converted to WTF shares which were last trading around 0.03.

I'd have to log on to the WSE website to check what the conversion ratio was.

Nick gave up leaving approx USD 750k owed to customers.

However, that figure includes accrued fictitious interest payments over a period of several years so he walked away with considerably less.

You are right

Uvas please amend your post to

"The bonds are nearly worthless, Its was a NEAR total loss for anyone involved."

It would be some sizable fraction though, especially since most of the deposits would have been in the last year prior coinciding with the massive growth of SL.

1/2? 1/3? Maybe?

I'd say 275-300k is probably pretty close to the actual amount.

So in other words, an amount that if you embezzled in Corporate America wouldn't even show up as a blip.

But if you stole it in an urban area they'd pop a cap in ya.