Linden Currency

Second Life: Third Party L$ Resellers GONE

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On Monday Linden Lab announced the end of the L$ Reseller Program. As of August 1st, 2015 it will only be possible to buy L$ from the Linden Exchange. Resellers have about 6 weeks to sell their stock of L$ and close their businesses.

In the announcement they provide a video tutorial on using the Linden Exchange for those that have never used it. Apparently some people have only used Resellers for their purchase of Linden dollars.

I don’t remember the Lab telling people that the Reseller Program would be a temporary step in their plans to provide international players access to L$. So, I suspect some people will be upset with the Lab. 

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Second Life: Euro-Dollar Exchange Rate

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Someone in the forum is thinking now is the time to cash out their dollars for Euros. It might be. But, it is not a simple decision. Both market and personal factors set when is best.

Today the exchange rate is US$1.00=€0.95. (That changes by the minute) January 1, 2015 it was €0.826. So, if you cashed out US$1,000.00 in January you got €826. If you cash out today, you will get €951. Is that a good deal? It depends.

Dollar to Euro Exchange Rates 2015
Dollar to Euro Exchange Rates 2015

According to the graph the trend is a strengthening dollar and a weakening Euro. So, the longer you wait the more Euros you are likely to get for your dollar. Said another way, euros are getting cheaper, losing value. The problems with Greece and the European banks is portending big problems. People are abandoning the euro in anticipation. 

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Wondering Around Second Life and the Web

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This Sunday morning I am going reading blogs and forums to see what is going on in Second Life. The interesting things I am finding follow:

Nice Places

Honour has images of Alice is Wonderland [SIC]. See: SL10BCC, Jumping Down the Rabbit Hole in Second Life. It is a region that is as strange and odd as the original story conveys and Honour does a good job of capturing that in her photos.

L$ Exchange

Maria Korolov on Hypergrid Business post more about the ongoing saga of the L$ Exchanges. See: Linden Lab allows third-party currency sales. Maria sees this as the Lab reversing their position. I don’t.

All exchanges MUST buy their Lindens from the LindeX. People can then buy those L$ from the Exchanges. But, in reality these will no longer be ‘exchanges’ as no one will be able to take money out of SL EXCEPT through the LindeX.

So, the exchanges are now only retailers of L$. It looks like many people will still have a significant problem getting money out of SL. This is of course the whole point of FinCEN regulations.

Forum Discussion

There is a question and discussion in the SL Forum about: Any solution for cashing out in Euro with LindeX? 

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Lab Makes L$ Exchange Announcement

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There is a new post on the Second Life™ blog announcing: More Options for Buying Linden Dollars. Quoting: With a credit card, you can purchase L$ on the LindeX using 27 different currencies, including EUR, GBP, JPY, and AUD. If you don’t have a credit card, you can also use PayPal, which can be connected directly … Read more

ToS L$ Change Update

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There is still a huge amount of speculation going on in regard to the ToS change and the Lab’s issuing Cease and Desist emails to those operating L$ exchanges and building viewers that link to third party exchanges.

Linden Dollar Exchange PODEX
Linden Dollar Exchange PODEX

In one thread over on SLUniverse the participants are trying to figure out why third party exchanges are suddenly illegal. They aren’t illegal. But, they do violate the Lab’s ToS… may be. That is where the confusion is, the ToS. 

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End of Linden$ Exchanges

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The recent ToS change left some questions as to whether third parties could continue trading Lindens. A subsequent post on the SL Blog seems to equate “unauthorized” with Not Permitted.

The kicker is the emails being sent to the operators of Exchanges. One German operator (Milz Yue) posted on a forum:

As described on the Second Life blog, updated Second Life Terms of Service disallow trading of Linden dollars (L $) on exchanges other than the LindeX.

As operator of a third party to exchange, You Should cease Facilitating L$ trades on your exchange immediately to comply with the Terms of Service. Any virtual ‘ATMs’ or scripted objects in Second Life that are connected to your exchange should therefore be removed immediately. 

Please be sure to read the complete updated Second Life Terms of Service and take the steps Necessary to comply and keep your Second Life account (s) in good standing. 

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

That may not be a perfect translation. But, it seems to make it clear, Linden Lab will be the only currency exchange in Second Life. 

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