How businesses are farming revenue, establishing transparency and creating a positive user experience

Bartering

Coinage

Checks / IOUs

Electronic / Wired Credit

Virtual Currency

Virtual Forms:

Gift cards – Who regulates the spending power?“Credits” for services – Surveys that earn you untaxed money?Gaming currency – Unsheltered from inflation/printing!Virtual bartering – Items created, for sale!Unmonitored value transfers – bartering or direct. How to go about regulating with so much anonymity and privacy issues?

Facebook, Myspace, Google, NYTimes, WoW

Habbo, Second Life, QQ, Eve

Ad revenue based on quantity of user and hit growth

Usually fixed rates – uncaptured revenue

Fixed pricing excludes non-paying community, decreases experience

Content is generic and broadcasted one way

Doesn’t positively add to user experience

Virtual goods revenue based on business growth and sales

Typically renewable Draws large community

without excluding non-paying potential participants

Heavy user contributed content

Flexible Price Discrimination

Reinforces user experience

Digital services create own currencies, set exchange rates and avoid taxation & regulation.

What are virtual goods? Are they goods or are they services and who owns them?

Businesses converting real currencies into their own credits without financial systems to regulate them:◦ Should these “goods” be taxed? How?◦ If so, why? Virtual exchange mediums have

virtually no normal government needed to be paid for.

◦ Why not bank in house instead of paying for money merchant services? Paypal did it.

◦ How and when should laundering be investigated?

New business opportunities created in third world countries without stable financial systems

Online communities supporting Micro Financing◦ Made aware via internet◦ Connected by social media◦ Empowered by secure transfer systems◦ Reassured by open communication channels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V005L3PWhSE

5:56

Microfinance for African entrepreneursand small businesses, some via mobile

Chinese P2P education loans

Global lending to entrepreneursto help stem poverty

Microcredit lending from European donors

Global investment and lending tosmall businesses

RISK involved Reinvesting and small interest return Enabling growth

http://www.kiva.org