03 Oct 2023, 3 PM SLT
Location: Pip Torok CC, Alpine Meadow
18 years ago, SL was a free market utopia where currency could be freely exchanged. SL-only companies were offering publicly traded stock, making investments on the many currency exchanges, and running casinos or investing in land. Money — L$ and US$ — flowed as free as beer during Oktoberfest 
Of course, companies came and went. The Gaming Open Market, which operated an exchange between several in-world currencies, and a heaven for speculators, closed its doors in late 2005. The L$ fluctuated wildly.
In 2007, everything crashed. An alleged million US dollars disappeared overnight, when the Ginko Financials Ponzi scheme finally collapsed. LL pulled the plug on exchanges, banks, and finally casinos in early 2008.
But by the end of that year, a mysterious individual only known as Satoshi Nakamoto posted on certain forums his ideas about "decentralised money". Bitcoin was born, and by 2009 the first cryptocurrency exchanges started operating.
A mere coincidence...?
Hosted by @Gwyneth Llewelyn as usual!