Why was the price of lindens raised so drastically?

[Nocturnal Amethyst]

Title basically says it all. Why was the price of lindens raised so much? I mean I basically remember a time when you could buy around 7,000 linden for eight dollars and now you can't even get that much for twenty-five!

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Neoserenity,

I've been in SL for seven years and the exchange rate has hovered around L$250/US$1 for that entire time. I don't know what the exchange rate was before 2008, but it's been remarkably stable for a long time.

[Rolig Loon]

The exchange rate for L$ has remained nearly constant since 2011.  See the database at http://gridsurvey.com/lindex.php .  If you want to buy L$7000 today, you will pay roughly $28.  When I joined SL in 2007, the exchange rate was higher, but not dramatically higher.  Even then, I remember paying more than $3 per L$1000, so $7000 would have cost more than $21.  There was a brief period in 2010 when the exchange rate spiked, roughly coincident with the scandal that led to the abolishment of in-world banks.  Otherwise, fluctuations have been unremarkable.

[Innula Zenovka]

I've managed to find an old email confirming a Lindex purchase in July 2007 shortly after I joined.   I  bought L$10520 for US$40.00, which means the rate was then 263.   It's now about 248.

Your example, L$7,000 for US$8.00,  gives a rate of  875.   I'm sure it's never been anywhere near that since 2007 (other than perhaps during the very brief run on the market in 2010 that Rolig mentions, but that only lasted a day or so).

 

[KarenMichelle Lane]

Memory is an interesting thing. Seldom do we remember things from the good days exactly as they actually were.

This incarnation of your presence in SL has been around since 2009.  There is no way you could have ever experienced a regular spell of Linden pricing at the rate you quoted.

 

[Parhelion Palou]

In September 2006 the rate hovered around L$265 for $1 US. I've been buying Lindens monthly since then & don't recall ever seeing rates significantly higher than that.

Perhaps someone who's been around since 2003/2004 remembers the rates in the first few years.