Uptown top banking

According to the AvaStar, the banks are back, though only those that have been accredited by Linden Lab.

Can anyone explain what the use-case is for using a Second Life bank? I can't really see why anyone would want to do so unless they are somehow able to offer better interest than I could reasonably get in RL. Am I being thick? Is it just to cater for residents that "do not have Paypal or a major U.S. credit card account in USD"?

Quick experiment... LeeX (a European SL-accredited bank) is offering a special deal right now, L$10,000 for 27.40 Euros - that's US$43.01. I'm assuming that this includes any transaction charges - I did try signing up to LeeX to confirm this but I couldn't make the Web site work properly.

Whatever... on LindenX (i.e. buying L$ thru the Second Life Web site) I can get L$11275 for $43.01. So, on the face of it, LeeX looks like a bad deal.

In both cases I will be charged some commission by Paypal because I bank in UK pounds sterling in RL and I'm buying L$ in either US dollars or Euros. I don't know if I am charged the same commission for US dollars and Euros.

OK, I'm confused... I still don't really understand why I should care that there are banks in SL.

Can someone enlighten me??

Uptown top banking

I wanted to say something about LL's moves against the SL banking community (no, that's not rhyming slang) but I don't really have long enough for a considered post. Not that I care much about the banking community per se - I've never used an in-world bank and have never seen much point in doing so. This is particularly true of those offering impressive sounding interest rates, largely on the rule of thumb that if something looks too good to be true then it probably is.

But as I said when LL outlawed in-world gambling, what these moves represent is a significant change of direction for LL - away from a largely hands-off, anything goes approach, towards a more regulated world. Not surprising I suppose. Host an online service in the US, even on the west coast, and outside forces are going to be brought to bear on it before long - especially once the mainstream media gets interested in it. Actually, this is probably true of most countries - I shouldn't pick on the US. LL should probably be congratulated for holding out as long as they have.

But it does leave one wandering what the next step will be...