Saturday, February 23, 2008

Alternative Currencies in Second Life

A new company called Ukash is now offering an alternative to the Linden Dollar for those wishing to engage in economic transactions on Second Life. The company bears a strong resemblance to well known eCurrency providers like PayPal, except that Ukash does not have a strict reliance on credit card or bank transactions like other online money brokers. Cursory searches across the internet also show that UKash doesn’t have reputation problems (at least as of yet), like so many other PayPal alternatives. According to Miark Chirnside, Ukash CEO, the alternative currency is growing in usage across Europe because of its ability to convert from cash. Ukash terminals are now available in the Bulido Money Service outlets inside Second Life, but those UKash isn’t limiting itself to simply just Second Life transactions. Ukash has real world terminals too, located in newsagents, grocery stores, post offices, and gas stations in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany and The Netherlands. Like PayPal, Ukash makes their money by charging merchants a transaction fee. Their website bills the ability to spend your Ukash at several online outlets, phone companies, and online gambling outlets (which largely dominate the list of places to spend).

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