US Dollar Meets SL

Enough is enough.

I am formally announcing my intention to create a system for the introduction of, and secure distribution of US dollars throughout the SL metaverse.

I feel this is necessary because the stability of the native currency the Linden dollar cannot be assured.

Would you distribute some in my direction please? **Holds out tin mug**

I've been working on secure banknotes for a long time now, just playing around, testing ideas... I never thought of making actual US currency.

I'm going to make dollars that are worth one dollar US, and I'm going to take payments via Paypal.

You'll get whatever you pay me, minus what PayPal charges me to accept your money (I'm not going to make a personal loss... ) and mins a... Hmm.... five cent handling charge. Once the currency is bought, I'll send it out for free, minus what paypal charges you when you receive it from me.

That's the best I can do cause Paypal is a pro at hitting your cash at every turn. But that seems a fairly straightforward way to populate the world with US dollars.

Well, maybe Apotheus will let us set prices in USD and he'll convert to L$ for us automatically.

And how are we going to pay others for items? Can we automate it? What happens if there is a server bug and money gets lost? Will you take L$ for them?

I just want out of the L$. What you hold today may be vastly devalued tomorrow. It's not a currency worth holding. It's like the German mark during hyperinflation.

Let's all just start walking around with US dollars. At least that's a stable currency.

I'll probably have every note be XML-RPC or email enabled, with an internal security code, and their last owner emailed to my server all the time, so I know who owns every note, any time day or night. So if the server dies, I can give people refunds.

Or I'll just say keep them in your inventories and don't ever Rezz them.

Or I could give a refund for a note, and void it out of my database when a new note is issued.

The more I think about this, the more I think it's a good idea.

Tonight I'm going to code and test a secure, copy proof bank note.

Then I'm going to begin issuing US dollars to SL.

Dude FFS stop bumping your own thread repeatedly

A thread is like a conversation, I just add more as more thoughts come into my head. Sorry if that keeps bumping the thread, guess that's just how forums work

What denominations? Too large and it won't be worth it. Mind that most products in SL are under a dollar - even at 4USD per 1KL$.

And what about an automated way of exchnage? Any ideas how someone could buy an item without the seller having to be there?

Yeah the notes could be coded to interact with selling machines. I think given the amount of change needed to implement US dollars across the SL metaverse, SL will at first become a speculative money and later maybe a common currency. For example:

I might put say, a hundred US dollars aside (like the gold bars that prop up any currency) and then I'll release a hundred $1 notes or equivalent into the metaverse, and they'll be free to trade amongst yourselves. And they'll ALWAYS be worth a dollar. A dollar for a dollar.

So if you have 10K lindens, you could put 9K of them into in world US dollars, and keep the rest on hand. That way if the Linden goes crazy (again) you are safe because your money is in US dollars.

Later it can be made to work with seller machines and used as a main currency. Or if anyone wants a US dollar in world that works will seller machines, I'll work on it. But I think we all need some backup at the moment in the form of US dollars to keep our linden dollar reserves safe.

I think, this will be a huge undertaking, a lot bigger than I initially realised. But I think given the fact the Linden dollar keeps sliding, and there's now millions of lindens waiting to be traded, we need to have a stable currency backbone.

I think this one needs doing.

Hmm.

What about not introducing US dollars, but the steady drop of the Linden dollar, and movement of payments outside SL.

If clothes vendors and stuff could accept a code, and an amount paid by XML-RPC, that could be linked to paypal instant payment notification, and a large percent of vendors could switch to purely US dollar transactions.

The same could be done for land sales. And then people like Anshe could cash out, and not crash the economy by being a significant percent of all the money moving around.

I certainly will cease any kind of trading with Linden dollars.

A conversation that has only one person speaking is better called a monologue, so please avoid the bumping.

However, in the spirit of encouraging an ongoing conversation, I'll add my own thoughts. In any form of currency there are two factors that must exist if it is to be stable. The first one is trust - the widespread belief that the issuing organization is trustworthy and that the currency itself is not open to corruptibility or 'insider manipulation'. The other is volume of use.

As can be seen from the recent plummeting of L$ value, it's clear that people have lost their trust in the L$ (my own opinion laying that blame squarely on Philip). I'd suggest that before even getting into a technical solution, it might make sense to address these two factors first, and build the technological design from there.


- Newfie

I did start to put my thoughts in edit(s) on my last post, so for those who don't like bumping, hopefully that'll cut it back a bit.

To what you said Newfie, I totally agree I don't mind who does this, I just hope it is done

I am willing to share any ideas I've got on secure notes, or instant payment notification, or anything else to do with getting us the dollar.

I WANT THE DOLLAR! I call on all the sharpest minds in SL to come together and form a working group to help get us the dollar!

I prefer Pounds Sterling...

Me too (I'm British) but the majority of SL people are from the US, so we'd better go with the majority

I vote pounds

So when the US$:UK£ rate starts to soar like the L$:US$ will you try to convince the Americans to use Sterling?

Prices in-world in L$ are roughly the same as they were two years ago. I don't see the problem with using L$ to trade in-world. If you argue the exchange rate to US$ is crap, then I argue the $:£ rate is crap as well. 6 months ago I could get nearly $2 for £1. Now I'm lucky if I get $1.80 (depending on source of exchange).

Just a couple of thoughts here on this.

First, the minute people start accepting the equivalent of US cash for items, doesn't taxation and other laws governing the sale of items for US cash become a concern? Right now, people sell the items for L$ and then convert it, which means no outside laws apply to the sale of goods, right?

Second, there are several reasons casinos use chips for high stakes gambling. One of the most important is that while the chips represent real money, people are more willing to plop chips down because it doesn't FEEL like real money. You find yourself sliding a stack of chips forward out of your pile, and only after do you realize you just placed $50 on a single bet.

The L$ kind of works the same. My guess is that someone buying a L$2000 skin might give it a bit more thought and have second thoughts if they realized they were actually spending $7.50 USD.

I kind of like having the L$. I share your concern that its value seems to be really shaky, which will eventually lead to inflation. But I'm not sure converting everything to the USD is the right course of action.

- J

All good reasons to not replace the L$ with any other currency. It doesn't need replacing, just stabilising. I can't see that happening at least until LL give us more solid info on their plans for their own exchange.

is this 'new method' of yours gonna push us 'poor' people out that love the game but only have basic accounts cause they can't afford USD's????????

No idea... I'm just thinking anything's better than this.

I notice that your tagline says "capitalist". The very thing you are worried about, and trying to respond to, is the logical outcome of unbridled capitalism. Most of us do not have the kind of capital required to throw around million-unit blocks of $L on the exchange, which is precisely what is destabilizing the currency. Further, the sheer ability to throw that kind of money around on any exchange gives those capitalists the power to affect the currency value for all of us.

You might want to change your tagline. You're aligning yourself with the "bad guys" right from the start.