US Dollar Meets SL

To quote myself, Jsecure?

dude you just quoted yourself??? What do you want from me?

LOL.. answer the question in the quote? I didn't quite see it answered in any of your posts so far

Edit to add: I'm still laughing..

I suppose you mean, how is US$ in world better than stashing money in GOM.

Well to spend the US$ you have in GOM, you have to pay to keep converting it to L$ and back. If you had US$ in world, you could just spend it there and then.

Wow, a giant penny. Where's Batman?

Seriously, though, not everyone is going to deal with PayPal-only converters.

Theres a one time fee for depositing money from paypal into GOM, buying currency with it and having it deposited into your account is free.. Also just keeping USD is paypal, you can pay for some items on SL Exchange I believe. And I should think there are more people already selling items for USD there than would take up an entirely new system of vending machines and currency..

It just seems like this is a lot of hassle for not a lot of gain.. If people don't want to deal in L$ just don't keep a large amount in your account, sell them and keep the USD in GOM.. Then when you want to buy something, buy some L$..

I admit it, I was making items to go in the Fortress of Solitude, and only after I put the penny up did my hubby say "um, the giant penny was Batman's, not Superman's"

*embarassed geek*

bad bad idea.......so its hard but not impossible if a said person deciced to use a hack tool to grudge his life away to find teh right line in the code to maybe someday exploit the Linden dollar. But to do what you are suggesting could have MAJOR hiccups and rippples that would shake the economy if a evil hacker from hell with a crew of scripters and builders went at it. my point is....how could you garantee the security of it all.....im no computer whiz but i have seen the same thing happpen in the WOW, EQ2, ect. worlds.

but..............you also may be on to something.



peace out.

You keepa using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.

Anybody want a peanut?

Inigo Montoya: That Vizzini, he can fuss.
Fezzik: Fuss, fuss... I think he like to scream at us.
Inigo Montoya: Probably he means no harm.
Fezzik: He's really very short on charm.
Inigo Montoya: You have a great gift for rhyme.
Fezzik: Yes, yes, some of the time.
Vizzini: Enough of that.
Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?
Fezzik: If there are, we all be dead!
Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it.Vizzini: DYEEAAHHHHHH.

Jsecure, while I applaud your enthusiasm, there are some MAJOR flaws and obstacles with your idea:

1. You say an inworld dollar would "always be worth a dollar." Says who? A dollar isn't even always worth a dollar. Its value fluctuates all the time. Today a dollar might buy a loaf of bread; tomorrow it might only buy half a loaf. Are you prepared to offer interest to cover inflation?

2. What are you prepared to do to offer consumer confidence in your service? Let's say I buy 100 of your inworld banknotes. That means I just gave you US$100, right? And you've promised that I can redeem at any time and get my $100 back, right? Well, with all due respect, I don't know you from a hole in the wall. Who's to say you'll be around when I want to cash in? How do I know you're not gonna sell a million of these things and then disappear to Tahiti?

3. By creating bank notes and claiming the have US$ value, you are making yourself a bank. Do you have a full understanding of US and international banking laws? Are you fully prepared to comply with them all? Will you be FDIC insured?

4. Have you thought about the fact that if your bank notes become accepted as a valued currency, then you're opening each and every user of your system to tax liability they would never ordinarily have had? Every merchant who accepts your notes as payment would likely have to remit sales tax on each and every transaction. That's one of the biggest problems with using "real" currency, and it's precisely because the Linden Dollar is worthless that we're able to avoid it at present. You see, the way things have always been, we're only tax liable for the US$ we generate by selling the service of collecting $L for people who can't or won't collect them on their own, nothing more. It's the SERVICE of collecting the L$ that is valuable, not the $L themselves. Were we to use your system of bank notes, items which you are declaring do have real value, then we'd be liable for every transaction. I can't speak for everyone, but as someone who does that every day in RL, I can promise you it's not something I'd want to do in SL.


These are serious issues, not to be taken lightly. You can't just decide one day, "I think I'll create a new banking system," without taking all this into account, and the things I've mentioned are just the tip of the iceburg. I wouldn't even attempt this without a team of finance lawyers and accounting proffessionals at my disposal, and even then I still wouldn't do it because of the tax issues it would generate for everyone.

I'm glad you're thinking creatively about how to improve the economy, but trust me, this is NOT the way to go about it.