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