What Will Google Do With Virtual Currency? Keep it Open
Posted on 10. Aug, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey in News, Rumors
Yesterday, a rumor from TechCrunch hit the web about Google purchasing another company that fits into their overall social networking strategy in Jambool, whose Social Gold currency can be used to buy and sell virtual goods. The currency is used in the popular social game Mafia Wars right now which is hosted on Facebook.
In fact, the CEO of Jambool recently was interviewed in a blog post about the possible problems with Facebook Credits. One is the idea that Credits is not really a currency but more of a stored value amount – you buy it from Facebook and you spend it on their applications alone. Another is that the company takes a thirty percent transaction fee for themselves.
Perhaps the role of Social Gold, should the rumored acquisition be true, is to provide an open standard on the web for virtual currency outside of Facebook Credits. In my mind while Social Gold could be used across several platforms as it is currently today, Facebook Credits is somewhat limited to, well, Facebook.
