Virtual or and Real

A banker has absconded with 86 billion from Dynasty Banking.  Dynasty Banking?  Is that an obscure Icelandic bank?  Almost, it's a bank in the massive world of Eve Online.

Two years ago in a post called The Future of Macroeconomics I wrote the following:

What makes virtual worlds important for economics is that for the first
time ever, macro-economists will be able to do experiments.  I predict
that we will see some very interesting experiments in the near future.

The massive theft from Dynasty Banking is creating a bank run.  There is no FDIC in Eve Online but other banks have agreed to lend Dynasty cash if it is needed – no doubt they fear contagion.  No word yet on whether fiscal or monetary stimulus is planned but I will watch the experiment with interest.

If this is not enough to boggle your mind, Eve Online is in fact an Icelandic firm!  Which explains why the money in Eve is called ISK, also the code for the Iceland Krona.  To bring the story full circle the Icelandic banking collapse is causing problems for the developer.

"The present currency restrictions are putting us in a straitjacket.
We are in talks with the government, but if we can't let capital in, we
might be compelled to leave Iceland, even though this would be against
our wishes."

EVE currently has around 300K subscribers.

Gudmundsson's comments come after those of CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson,
who told Edge in October following the banking collapse, "I’m fortunate
that CCP has hardly been affected by the economic crisis here. We now
have to take advantage of our status as a global company and maintain
our diversified banking relationships."

CCP also has offices in Atlanta and Shanghai.

Finally, in other news, we have this:

Royal Khanid Navy Grand Admiral Zidares Khanid this morning released a
statement claiming that Khanid Kingdom forces yesterday attacked
thirty-three separate Blood Raider Covenant targets – ranging from
unmanned installations to fully-defended outposts – in what the release
terms “an effort to strike a blow against the spreading blight of
willful heresy.”

Just thought you would want to know. Does your head hurt yet?

Thanks to Roger Avalos for the pointer.

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