Linden Lab makes US$5 million a year from Lindex sales
By Eric Reuters
Linden Lab Chief Financial Officer John Zdanowski said last week the company makes US$5 million a year printing virtual money and injecting it into the Second Life economy, according to the Associated Press.
“We basically manage the supply of our currency so that the exchange rate stays fixed against the U.S. dollar,” Zdanowski said. The company sells currency to keep a ceiling on the Linden dollar at L$270 to the greenback.
According to the AP report, Second Life’s economic activity was nearly halved in the immediate wake of the gambling ban. Zdanowski said Linden Lab briefly stopped selling currency to compensate for the extra supply of Linden dollars as casino owners cashed out of the virtual economy.
It remains hard to gauge the real impact of the gambling ban on Second Life’s economy. In the weeks following the ban, the gaming industry went underground as speakeasies proliferated throughout Second Life. Linden Lab has said it relies on resident “abuse reports” to detect gambling, and cannot be expected to know what goes on throughout the entirety of the virtual world.
Zdanowski said should Second Life’s economy ever enter slip into depression, caused for example by a declining popularity in the virtual experience, the company would keep the Linden dollar stable by accepting tier fees in game currency.
