Good points from reader Erik Mondrian, on how Linden Dollars help drive the success of Bitcoin, and why L$ is still more often used than BTC to buy goods and services:
The other issue that I think is important to bring up in this context is exchange rate, which weighs the scale even further toward the Linden Dollar. Thanks to its rate remaining relatively stable, Residents can pretty much assume that 1 USD will be worth about 250 L$—now, tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year—an assumption that has a lot to do with the health of the Second Life economy and the willingness of people to accept and rely on Linden Dollars as a form of payment and stored value.
Contrast that stability with Bitcoin—its infamous fluctuations and the astronomical rise over the years in how many thousands upon thousands of US dollars you'd have to pay to get just 1 BTC—and it should be obvious why using the latter as a currency is ridiculous. It's much more like investing in the stock market and then hoping that enough other people will want to buy in that the value of your "asset" keeps going up. (And also hoping, of course, that a certain billionaire CEO doesn't tweet something that sends its value falling again.)
Seen in that light, comparing daily transactions is almost beside the point, since these two "virtual assets" represent entirely different expectations and mindsets. Bitcoin evangelists, like those cited in the article above, celebrate the so-called milestones of BTC reaching ever higher exchange rates and total amount invested. Meanwhile, in Second Life, we use the reliable ol' Linden Dollar to do what people tend to do in any society with a functioning currency: buy and sell goods and services (and pay our rent), trusting that the money we use to do that with will still be worth more or less what we gave or got for it the next time we're asked to open our wallets.
The key reason that Linden Dollars remain stable against the US dollar, versus Bitcoin?
Linden Lab the company effectively acts as the Linden Dollar's government, imposing restrictions on its use and controlling how much of it is minted into or withdrawn from the economy. Unable to do either — or rather, designed not to do either — Bitcoin is always a victim to wild external fluctuations, including (as Erik notes), Elon Musk mood swings.
Erik, by the way, wrote his whole CalArts MFA thesis on Second Life, so you can take his virtual currency opinion to the virtual bank.
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 
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