Miami (FL) – The first licenses for virtual banking in the “Entropia Universe” have been distributed.  

Jon Jacobs, who controls the avatar “NeverDie” in Entropia, was first to announce that he has won one of the first licenses to establish a virtual bank in an auction that began back in February. Jacobs, who so far has run a virtual nightclub, said that he paid $90,000 for the license and will specialize in "short-term bridging loans to help finance avatars building virtual manufacturing and construction companies."

According to Entropia, owners of virtual bank licenses can choose the location of their bank, but must deposit a working capital of real-world $100,000 to open for business. A second license for a virtual bank apparently has been sold to Anshe Cheung, the avatar of Ailin Graef, who has become famous for being the first person to have made more than $1 million of profits in the virtual world of Second Life.

Entropia has been created by the Swedish software company Mindark. The environment offers gamers a platform in which funds in Entropia currency can be converted back into real money: 10 Project Entropia Dollars represent a value of US$1.

According to Mindark, the total funds being exchanged in Entropia during 2006 were more than US$350 million or 3.5 billion PED. At the end of Q1 2007, Entropia had about 575,000 participants.

what is wrong with people?

May 04, 2007 07:02     

why would you be using your real money in a virtual world? why is it even legal to allow people to exchange "virtual money" for real money? that's like playing Monopoly but having to put down a few thousand dollars at the start to receive your Monopoly money to play with. who would do that???
Erich report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Learn and read the book before you judge the cover

May 04, 2007 08:06     

You obviously have no played the game. While I personally would not deposit this much money into the game, I play it on a daily basis and I have to say that it is a fun game. Okay, Mindark does not have the best business strategy, but the game itself still has a loyal community base. Stop flaming a game that you know nothing about saying that it should be illegal for people to have fun and play with their money how they want. You, sir, are an idiot.

Ben report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

lol

May 04, 2007 11:44     

omg, thats like buying stock in a company... you don't get their products or any physical returns oh wait, if they value increases you get profit... hmm so that works in the game too... oh darn, i guess its just a way to make money then nevermind :P
Ryker Abel report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

lol..

May 04, 2007 11:51     

I played this game back in the day - just after beta...and Mindark seems to find every possible way to screw people out of their money, simply put.
Josh report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

CEO - ENN

May 04, 2007 15:17     

I tend to agree with the 'not judging a book by it's cover' I have lived in Entropia for quite some time now, and while it may be a tough living, but such is the life of any beginner in a new MMORPG. I would urge anyone to take a closer look before judging.. My society has quite a few screenshots if anyone would like to check them out: www.EntropiaNewsNetwork.com Anthony Antone Wilcox CEO - Entropia News Network

Anthony Wilcox report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Banking in Entropia

May 04, 2007 15:25     

I know Neverdie, and i know Entropia Universe. The game is so much fun, and the excitement is real. Neverdie is a visonary...Good luck to him.
Crash Westmoreland report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Entropia Universe - ENN

Jun 13, 2007 10:41     

it is a great game to play, and yes, Antone is right. NeverDie has made over a million dollars playing EU... so don't knock it before you try it. Please do check out all of our pictures at www.entropianewsnetwork.com/forum, we have tons up there in the forums.
Larkin Snipes Smith report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Long long ago

Jun 26, 2007 17:02     

Virtual money has been around for over a decade. The Internet Chess Club (ICC) has had virtual money (scheckels) since inception, as do the other commercial servers like Playchess (ducats). They are used for wagering on games, flat fees to play good players, to recieve tutorials, to listen to premium content... However, there IS a service going on. I never played these games, but I'm not sure what the actual service is here. Still, it's nothing THAT big. I doubt this guy will do well with the banking thing however. It takes years to understand, and a fulltime 100% commitment to keep up with it.

Xmas report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

This is not the biggest ammount paid though

Aug 30, 2007 05:28     

This is not the biggest ammount paid though Virtual space resort sells for $100,000 http://www.rceworlds.com/modules/article/view.article.php?6
franck report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0