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It is unlikely that you will need to sit in a bank and fill out forms to get a card. You will have no more hoops to go through than in-game tokens. Which makes

It is unlikely that you will need to sit in a bank and fill out forms to get a card. You will have no more hoops to go through than in-game tokens. Which makes me wonder, why haven't there been in-game tokens made universal yet? I don't do Facebook but didn't they once have a large Zynga game thing on the go, very much tied into the platform? A monopoly on a virtual currency should have happened by now, one that only buys stuff in games, unlocking features etc., transferable to mates. If this had happened then it would not be that much of a leap to make the virtual token be handy for real world things. Crypto-nonsense would not be needed, it could just be like a classic in-game token. If the tokens can be cashed out to hard currency great. But some people might never need to do that. They could buy music and apps with mummy and daddy doing the top ups.

buboard 7y ago
> transferable to mates That would be a big no no and would ring money laundering alarms > If the tokens can be cashed out to hard currency great. Again, regulators, that's why Libra has the association and needs to back up each transaction. In reality the payment processors take so big a cut that a virtual coin would not be very profitable. Plus you have to manage everyone's complaints and chargebacks. Facebook had FB credits but they scrapped it, presumably because it was not good business. There are some smaller companies who manage virtual coins on behalf of games, like superrewards.com . They take a big cut, but also save developers a lot of trouble.
PeterisP 7y ago
In-game tokens can be legally treated as just part of the game because they can't be transferable to mates and cashed out to hard currency. As soon as (for example) Zynga claims that tokens can be cashed out for hard currency or used to buy arbitrary real-world things outside of that game, that would mean that all kinds of money-related regulations would start to apply for them. For example, many game mechanics that include these tokens and randomness would fall under gambling laws; and money laundering/KYC laws would start to be relevant. That's why pretty much every company offering such tokens will pinky-swear that they're not redeemable for cash and real world things, and take at least some visible action to combat any black market for such sales lest they'd be considered aiding money laundering. In essence, you can't really have your cake and eat it too - there can be a cryptopunk-ideal digital currency but pretty much every legitimate business selling real world things would be prohibited from touching it (at least in nontrivial amounts, if they don't do their own deanonymization of customers like all the legitimate Bitcoin exchanges do); or you can have a digital currency that's usable on a scale (like Libra) but it can be that way only by implementing KYC (i.e. anti-anonymity) and AML (i.e. possibility for censoring payments).
- hakfoo 7y ago
  I'm actually surprised that the WoW Token and Eve's PLEX haven't crossed that red line already.

buboard 7y ago

> transferable to mates That would be a big no no and would ring money laundering alarms > If the tokens can be cashed out to hard currency great. Again, regulators, that's why Libra has the association and needs to back up each transaction. In reality the payment processors take so big a cut that a virtual coin would not be very profitable. Plus you have to manage everyone's complaints and chargebacks. Facebook had FB credits but they scrapped it, presumably because it was not good business. There are some smaller companies who manage virtual coins on behalf of games, like superrewards.com . They take a big cut, but also save developers a lot of trouble.

PeterisP 7y ago

In-game tokens can be legally treated as just part of the game because they can't be transferable to mates and cashed out to hard currency. As soon as (for example) Zynga claims that tokens can be cashed out for hard currency or used to buy arbitrary real-world things outside of that game, that would mean that all kinds of money-related regulations would start to apply for them. For example, many game mechanics that include these tokens and randomness would fall under gambling laws; and money laundering/KYC laws would start to be relevant. That's why pretty much every company offering such tokens will pinky-swear that they're not redeemable for cash and real world things, and take at least some visible action to combat any black market for such sales lest they'd be considered aiding money laundering. In essence, you can't really have your cake and eat it too - there can be a cryptopunk-ideal digital currency but pretty much every legitimate business selling real world things would be prohibited from touching it (at least in nontrivial amounts, if they don't do their own deanonymization of customers like all the legitimate Bitcoin exchanges do); or you can have a digital currency that's usable on a scale (like Libra) but it can be that way only by implementing KYC (i.e. anti-anonymity) and AML (i.e. possibility for censoring payments).

hakfoo 7y ago
I'm actually surprised that the WoW Token and Eve's PLEX haven't crossed that red line already.