NOTE: Whoops, I take it back. Please read update at bottom

Ginko Financial just hit its first 100 million in deposits. While the money is in Second Life’s digital currency (Linden $), at today’s exchange rates those deposits are worth $372,500 in real USD currency. While $300k is chump change for any real bank, it’s a surprisingly large amount to put into an entity that includes the following warning on every page of their site, “Ginko Financial and its affiliated businesses are not registered in any way with any governmental organization. Not warrented[sic], guarenteed[sic], or insured.”

The fact that even a modest number of people have chosen Ginko Financial’s buyer-beware virtual bank over a government-insured physical insitution is incredibly interesting. Something unusual is afoot here. Banks might take interest in this development, not because of the miniscule $ amount, but because this unusual home-grown bank illuminates entirely new markets and service possibilities.

UPDATE: Looks like I should’ve read this article by Reuters Second Life first. Sounds like Ginko Financial could be just a Ponzi scheme (a charge denied by the owner). Certainly, claims of 44% annual interest, and the owner being unwilling to disclose his real name, should arouse more than casual suspicion. If this is just another pyramid scheme, the inevitable collapse won’t bode well for future financial experiments in Second Life. Disappointing to say the least. Hopefully banks will NOT pay attention to this particular example/system, but I’d still like to see more exploration of financial service possibilities in SL.