Linden Dollar Sales on LindeX Decrease 58% From Q4 '09 to Q1 '10; Lindens Attribute it to Rising L$ Sales on XStreet

Linden Dollar activity graph by Tyche Shepherd of Grid Survey

Weeks before the Lindens' published Second Life Q1 2010 report, Tyche Shepherd of Grid Survey published her own stats, based on publicly available SL data. One striking graph: Linden Dollar sales on the LindeX, the official L$ purchasing system, were down 58% last quarter from the previous quarter of Q4 2010. This was pointed out to me by John Zdanowski, formerly known as Z Linden, previously Linden Lab's CFO, now with Blue Mars. "That's a very important number to watch," as he put it to me in a Tweet. So I checked with the Lindens, for their take. What's going on with this decline?

"Overall trading activity on the LindeX reached an all-time high in the quarter," Linden PR rep Pete Linden told me. According to him, purchases of Linden Dollars on XStreetSL, the company's eccomerce site, are supplanting sales on the LindeX: "The merging of Linden Dollar balances on Xstreet increased direct L$ sales on Xstreet as part of item purchases, and increased L$ sinks from Xstreet in Q1, which likely had an impact on L$ sales on the LindeX." However, he said, the total amount of Linden Dollars in the economy is still up from last quarter: "The total L$ held by Residents reached nearly L$7 billion -- flat compared to Q4 2009, and an 18% increase compared to Q1 2009."

Comments

[Not You]

7 Billion L$ == 25 Million USD?

I smell Ginko Bank 2.0!

[Patchouli Woollahra]

Not You:

Fail Troll Is Fail

there is a significant difference between Ginko and the current L$ economy as you see it. Ginko failed because they attempted to service past investment profits using incoming newer investments purely, which was a very unsustainable model. L$ economic activity is very much as real as anything you might possibly find in a traditional exchange, albeit on a much smaller scale.

[Tateru Nino]

No, that doesn't make sense. What declined was the source of new L$ from Supply Linden, and Xstreet sales aren't such a source - only an exchange of L$ that are already in circulation.

[Adric Antfarm]

This is why I try and ignore all this data.

Linden can shape it anyway they please as a private company, third parties may or may not have the data needed to comment, and there is no one out there speaking for the residents and only the residents who can give an unbiased view.

I guess if you have a million to toss in and need the forecast you need it, but if you are Joe Resident - look at what you see on the ground and proceed accordingly. Not these numbers.

For me, that is guarded optimism. I see things getting dirt kicked on them (won't see the word "Woodbury" here) but overall I think this old girl has some life left in her.

[Ciaran Laval]

Hmm, well the first problem is that we're no longer comparing like for like stats, Xstreet fees weren't counted previously.

The second issue therefore is, were Xstreet balances previously counted as being part of the total L$ inworld? Some people kept money in their balances, if they weren't previously counted then it's no surprise that L$ inworld has risen.

If they're now counting Xstreet Linden dollar purchases along with Lindex purchases, and they weren't previously, then again, it's no surprise if there's an increase.

[Anya Ristow]

The Lindex is no longer the primary means by which LL adds money to the supply. They've sacrificed an immediate sale for more direct control of where money moves. It's unclear how much this actually costs them (if anything) since the monetary benefit of control is harder to measure than a direct sale, but the total money in the system and the total sold on the Lindex (now more by residents than before) should be about the same as if Supply Linden was still selling.

[Tateru Nino]

Well, there's only three sources of new L$ that I can think of. There's stipends/bonuses, there's service payments, and there's Supply Linden.

[Frans Charming]

It can only make sense if there is a unreported xstreet supply linden/script.